I 



THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 627 



Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds B. M., XXII., p. 293 (1893); Ogilvie- 

 Grant, Hand-L. Game Birds, I., p. 252 (1895); Davies, Ibis (1901) 

 p. 409; Bailey, Journ. Geog. Soc, XXXIX., pp. 339, 346 (1912) ; 

 id Bom. Nat. His. Journ., XXII., p. 367 (1913); Finn, Indian 

 Sporting Birds, p. 194 (1915). 



Grossoptilon auritum. — Gray, Genera B., [II., p. 495, pi. CXXV. 

 (1845). 



Grossoptilon tihetanum. — Hume and Marshall. Game-Birds, Ind. 

 I., p. 115, pi. (1878); Seebhom, Ibis (1891)p. 378; Sharpe,Hand- 

 L. L, p. 35 (1898) ; Gates, Eggs B. M., p. 53 (1901) ; Dresser, 

 Manual Pal. B., p. 671 (1903). 



Vernacular names. — Chakgong, Chakai {Tibetan); Bote-Dafe 

 (Nepal) ; Machi {Chinese). 



Bescriftion — Adult Male and Female. — Crown of head covered with 

 short, black, curly, velvety feathers ; wing quills ashy brown, the 

 inner secondaries more a slaty-gray, faintly glossed on the visible 

 portions with blue ; the wing coverts grade from white, merely tinged 

 with grey on the smallest coverts, to grey almost as dark as that of 

 the primaries and the greater coverts ; tail purple bronze at the base, 

 shading through metallic green to deep purple-blue on the terminal 

 half. Kemainder of plumage white. 



The purity of the white varies greatly in diffei'ent individuals ; in 

 a few it is practically pure white, but in the majority it is much 

 suffused with grey. In two specimens the backs are sufficiently grey 

 to cause this part of the plumage to contrast decidedly with the pure 

 white lower back and rump. 



Colours of soft parts. Male. — Iris reddish yellow, legs brilliant scar- 

 let red, claws more horny and tipped darker ; naked skin of face red. 

 Female. — "Length 3H", iris yellow, bill pinkish, legs scarlet, toes 

 grey; Ba-la-to 12,000'."" (F. M. Bailey). The naked skin of the 

 face is scarlet, practically as bright as that of the male ; the toes are 

 horny red, tipped darker. 



Dimensions. — Length 30 to 35 inches; bill at front about 1-75" 

 (=44-5 mm.) and from gape about 2" (=50-8 mm.) ; tarsus about 

 3-5" (=88-9 mm.); tail from 18" to 22" (=457-2 to 559-0 mm.) ; 

 wing from 11-50" (=292-1 mm.) to 13-25" (=336-5 mm.). 



With the material available for comparison, consisting largely 

 of unsexed specimens^ it is impossible to say whether there is any 

 difference in the size of the sexes, but it would appear not. 



Distrihution. — The mountains of Western China and extreme 

 East Tibet. More full and accurate data are still required to show 

 where this bird meets and grades into the next form drouynii. 



South it is at all events found as far as the Tongla, the pass at the 

 head of the Irrawaddy Valley, where Capt. F. M. Bailey found it 

 numerous. It may well be found later on in the higher ranges of 

 N. E. Yunnan. 



