280 Zoologica : N. Y. Zoological Society. [I ; 15 



castanea forms vary much among themselves in this character, 

 two which I have seen being exactly intermediate between cas- 

 tanea and buddulphi. Gould's statement that castanea is "alto- 

 gether a stouter and larger bird than Pucrasia macrolopha" is 

 wholly without foundation, and was based on the superficial ap- 

 pearance of his very much overstuffed type specimens. Careful 

 comparisons show practically no difference in size, and where 

 there is, the slight increase is in favor of macrolopha. There 

 is no alternative but to give only sub-specific rank to these two 

 forms, although even trinomials do not tell the whole truth, as 

 biddulphi lies between castanea and macrolopha. They fully 

 deserve this distinction, however, as the variations are clearly 

 geographical. 



East of Kumaon we find the Koklass Pheasants becoming 

 more and more dark over the entire plumage, while the chestnut 

 appears on and spreads over the mantle. Many of the so-called 

 specimens of nipalensis from Jumla, western Nepal, and the vi- 

 cinity, are indistinguishable from the more dark-mantled mac- 

 rolopha from Kumaon. No description has ever been given of 

 the extreme nipalensis type; all relate to intermediate speci- 

 mens, so I offer the following diagnosis of Pucrasia macrolopha 

 nipalensis : 



Adult Male. — Head and neck as in macrolopha, except that 

 the crown and the shorter part of the crest is warm rufous 

 buff. The hind neck and mantle are dark chestnut, the black 

 being confined to the tip and two narrow, lateral lines down the 

 center of the webs. On the upper back the chestnut dies out 

 as a narrow shaft-streak. The back is black with scarcely a 

 trace of white edging, but on the lower back a light margin 

 persists and on the rump and upper tail-coverts this increases 

 in width and becomes tinged with buff. The chestnut of the 

 mantle is continued directly on to the scapulars, tertiaries and 

 inner secondaries ; on the former as a bright shaft-stripe and 

 on the inner web, increasing and paling posteriorly, until on 

 the inner secondaries it covers most of the feather, as a clouded, 

 but still rich, rufous. It decreases to a shaft-stripe on the suc- 

 ceeding secondaries, and on the primaries covers the narrow 

 outer web with a warm rufous buff. The lesser wing-coverts 

 are jet black, the greater dark brown, uniform for the most 



