80 



THE OOLOGIST. 



frequently found them in company with P. 

 pictus and Macco'wnii, but have seen no 

 individual flocks of P. lapponicus. 

 Gainesville, Texas. G. H. Ragsdale. 



Foretgix (^trds. 



The Impeyan Pheasant or Monaul. 



i^Lophophoras resplendens. ) 



BY FRED. J. DAVIS. 



[yO doubt some of the readers of The 

 OoLOGiST, especially such as are in- 

 clined to practice the beautiful art of 

 taxidermy, have in looking over the price 

 list of some foreign bird-skin dealer, noticed 

 the skin of this elegant bird quoted at #15 

 to 120 or more ; or better, perhaps some 

 have seen or possessed one of them. If so, 

 they can understand more easily what caus- 

 ed me to attempt to enlighten such of the 

 readers of 1'he Oologist as are unacquaint- 

 ed with the history and habits of the pres- 

 ent elegant representative of this distin- 

 guished family. 



The Monaul may be described as follows : 

 Body quite powerful ; wings like those of 

 most Pheasants ; tail rather long ; upper 

 mandible quite curved and pointed ; feet of 

 medium size, those of the male furnished 

 with spurs. The male is beautifully color- 

 ed and very glossy, and has a bare spot a- 

 round the eye ; the head is decorated with 

 a crest of numerous feathers, which are de- 

 void of web at the roots and very broad at 

 the extremities. The head and throat are 

 of a metallic green ; the crest is also of that 

 hue, but resplendent with a golden sheen ; 

 the nape and upper part of the throat are 

 of such a glossy carmine red that they gleam 

 with all the brilliancy of the ruby ; the low- 

 er parts and back are bronze -green, shaded 

 with gold ; the rest of the mantle, the wing 

 and upper tail coverts, are brilliant violet 

 or bluish -green. Some few feathers on the 

 under side are white, but the surface is 

 principally black, shining with green or pur- 



ple on the breast and lustreless on the belly ; 

 quills black ; tail reddish-brown, which is 

 the only blemish on the beauty of the bird ; 

 eyes hazel ; legs and feet grayish-green. 

 Length twenty-six and extent thirty-three 

 inches. The female is white upon the throat ; 

 the rest of the plumage is yellowish-brown, 

 marked with darker brown ; primary quills 

 blackish ; secondaries and tail feathers 

 yellowish-brown marked with black. She 

 is smaller than the male. 



Mountaineer gives a very full description 

 of the habits of this bird, from which I will 

 give a brief extract. The Monaid is found 

 on almost every hill of any height, from the 

 first great ridge of tlie Himalayas above the 

 plains to the limits of the wooded districts, 

 and in the interior is the most plentiful of 

 the game birds. 



In summer, when the vegetation springs 

 up and makes the forests almost impassable 

 but few are to be seen, except near the sum- 

 mits of the ridges jutting froni the snow, 

 where in morning and evening, when they 

 come out to feed, they may be seen in the 

 green glades of the forest and on the green 

 slopes above. In the cold season when the 

 rank grass and herbage decay, they begin 

 to collect together. The wood seems full 

 of them, and in some places, hundreds may 

 be flushed in a single day. The males and 

 part of the females in summer ascend to 

 where the hills attain considerable height. 

 In autumn they may be found in the forest 

 where the ground is covered with decayed 

 leaves ; as winter approaches and the ground 

 becomes covered and frozen they descend 

 lower. The females and young birds re- 

 sort near the villages iu the woods, and may 

 often be found in numbers in the fields. In 

 autumn and winter many often collect to- 

 gether in the same quarter of the forest, al- 

 though so scattered that each bird appears 

 to be alone ; then again a score or more 

 will start within a few hundred yards. 

 The females keep more together than the 

 males. On the lower or exposed side of the 

 hills scores of females and young may be 

 seen, while higher up none but males can 

 be found. 



