32 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



drawn-out, wheezy whistle, followed by several sharper notes. Another correspondent 

 gives it as a loud, long-continued squealing. 



I found the birds scratching among dwarf bamboo, probably both for insects and 

 seeds. David gives buds, leaves, and grains as their diet, while the crops of three 

 birds shot in April in the snow contained nothing but moss. 



A single nest of Geoffroy's Blood Partridge has been found a short distance to the 

 west of Tachienlu in west-central Szechuan (30° north latitude and 102° west longitude). 

 This was on the ground, under brushwood in the forest, at thirteen thousand five hundred 

 feet elevation, and contained seven beautifully marked eggs. These are of a narrow, 

 elongated oval shape, smooth and almost glossy, with a ground colour of pale reddish- 

 buff, blotched irregularly, but over the entire surface, with several shades, the darkest 

 being a deep reddish-brown. In shape and pigmentation these eggs are far more 

 Charadriiform or Lariform than like any of the eggs of true pheasants. Of Galliformine 

 birds they resemble most closely the eggs of ptarmigan or black grouse. These eggs 

 measure from 47-1 to 52*2 mm. in length, and from 31-8 to 33-1 mm. in breadth. 



The Tibetans seldom trap these birds, but the Chinese have of recent years created 

 a demand for them along with all other birds of an edible nature, and with their 

 continued migration into this western region, the bird will doubtless soon become 

 even more rare than it is at present. The extremely isolated character of many of the 

 steep slopes and almost impassable nature of much of this wild country will, however, 

 give it a good chance for existence for many years to come. 



The only record of Geoffroy's Blood Partridge in captivity is a bird received 

 at the London Zoological Gardens on July 19, 1875, which lived over a year, until 

 September 19, 1876 — a record lease of life in captivity for birds of this genus. 



Detailed Description. — Adult male : forehead and feathers around bare facial 

 area black. Very long and loose green feathers blue-grey. Ear-coverts elongated, 

 narrow and loosely webbed ; black with distinct white shaft-streak. From the nape 

 backward to the tail-coverts, blue-grey. What on the nape is at first only a whitened 

 rhachis, widens posteriorly into a broad shaft-streak, becoming broadly bordered with 

 black on the back. Lesser wing-coverts like back. Middle and greater coverts intense 

 apple green, elongated and loosely webbed, with shaft-streak of paler green. Inner 

 secondaries greenish, the succeeding few blue-grey and the remainder, together with 

 the primaries, brown with glistening white shafts. 



Rectrices uniform pale, ashy-blue, all but the outer pair, together with the upper 

 and under coverts with a long, lateral, crimson fringe of disintegrated barbs. On the 

 under coverts the crimson frequently occupies almost the entire feather. 



The chin is blackish, rapidly paling into the uniform blue-grey of the throat and 

 breast. Beginning in a straight transverse line across the lower breast, a patch of 

 brilliant apple green covers the sides and mid-belly, giving place posteriorly to the 

 dense, blue-grey, wholly disintegrated belly and vent plumage. A few specimens show 

 buffy stains on the margins of some of the breast feathers. The average number of 

 spurs is two on each leg ; this holding good for six out of seven specimens. The 

 remainder have a single spur on either the right or left leg. The iris is hazel, bill black, 

 with the base, nostrils and bare orbital skin red, feet and spurs coral red, claws brown. 



