THE IMPEYAN PHEASANT. 133 
gallinaceous birds, the monaul may be said to be omnivorous. Those I have had in 
confinement ate rice and grain readily, as well as insects, worms, maggots, flesh, 
lizards, fish, eggs, &c. It is a diligent digger, and the slightly expanded tip of the 
mandible acts like a hoe or shovel. I had several of these birds in an aviary at 
Mullye, in Tirhoot. They were strong and vigorous as long as the cold weather 
lasted, and soon became tame, and did not succumb to the atmosphere of the plains 
till June, when the rains had set in. Unlike the smaller hill pheasants, they were 
not pugnacious. If shipped off early in the cold weather from Calcutta, these birds 
could easily enough be transported to England, where the temperature would suit 
them, if there were any means of giving them shelter during the extreme severity 
of winter, or of procuring for them in that season a proper substitute for the insect 
food which never fails them on the lower elevations of the Himdla. If they could 
become as thoroughly acclimated as the common pheasant, they would indeed be a 
superb ornament to our parks and plantations, though perhaps no great acquisition 
to the table. It is many years ago since I tasted the monaul, and, speaking from 
memory, the flavour appeared to me much the same as that of peafowl, the breast 
being tender and palatable in the young birds, but no part being fit for anything 
but soup in old specimens. The monaul has bred in England, both in the Zoological 
Gardens of London and in the possession of the Earl of Derby, where the female 
is said to have laid on one occasion thirteen to fourteen eggs.” 
In appropriate localities there should be little difficulty in rearing the young, 
which should be amply supplied with custard and ants’ eggs, in preference to much 
grain, and the fowl rearing them should be allowed as much freedom as possible, 
in order that she may supply the young chicks with appropriate insect food. 
The following is the description of the two sexes and young :—‘'The bill of 
the male is dusky brown or horny; iris sombre brown; legs greenish lead colour; 
naked orbits; small blue head; crest and throat green, and highly metallic; the 
lanceolate feathers on the hind neck amethystine or bright purple, changing in 
lights into cupreous green with a golden glance; middle of the back white; but 
all the rest of the upper parts, including the upper tail coverts, rich blue, glancing 
with green and purple, highly glossed, the purple predominating on the back and 
rump, the green on the wing and tail coverts; remiges, plain black; tail pale rust 
colour; all under parts black, and without gloss. The female is entirely cinnamon 
brown; the feathers shafted pale, and irregularly barred and marked sepia; primaries 
blackish; chin and throat white. Entire length of the male, about 24 inches; 
wing, 11; tail, 73. The female is a little smaller. The young males are at first 
like the female, but may be distinguished by the black spots on the chin and 
throat. They assume the adult plumage gradually, and in irregular patches scattered 
over the body.” 
— ££ YF FS 
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