HIMALAYAN IMPEYAN PHEASANT 131 



in a depression that might have been made by the mere weight of the bird. The 

 dead leaves and flower stalks which lined this were only those which the "accident 

 of fate " had already deposited there, but in each were a half-dozen or more soft 

 breast feathers of the hen Impeyan. One nest was close to the foot of a decayed 

 stub, another fairly touching an overhanging boulder, and the third near a living 

 oak-tree. Tw^o were at an elevation of eight, the third nearer nine thousand feet. 

 Other nests are described as being found under the shelter of an overhanging 

 rock, the massive root of a large tree, some thick tuft of fern or grass or near 

 a fallen trunk, the hollow being either bare or with a natural lining of dry 

 grass, leaves or moss. 



The two eggs which I found were evidently a set, as the broken one showed 

 signs of about a week's incubation. Natives tell of sets of a dozen eggs, and one 

 record states that nine were found, but it may have been that these were eggs 

 of the koklass. Eight is the largest perfectly authenticated number, and the usual 

 quota is unquestionably four or five. Sets of two are by no means unknown 



The eggs of the Impeyan Pheasant resemble those of our American wild 

 turkey so closely that some specimens are almost indistinguishable. The most 

 persistent difference is that the eggs of the turkey are slightly broader and more 

 pointed. Comparison of the females of the two species and their eggs is of 

 interest, considering the various characters of the turkey as i. 





Body 



Body 



Size 



Number 



Period of 





Measurements. 



Weight. 



of Egg. 



of Eggs. 



Incubation, 



$ Turkey 



I 



I 



I 



I 



I 



$ Impeyan 



2 



i 



I 



1 

 3 



I 



The eggs of the Impeyan have a firm and compact shell, with but slight 

 gloss, and in shape are broad, rather blunt ovals. The ground colour is creamy 

 or buffy white, the entire surface thickly freckled with dark reddish brown. These 

 markings show considerable variation ; rarely almost absent ; more frequently in 

 the form of minute pore-like specks, or most commonly with a large number of 

 spots about one-twentieth of an inch in diameter. Again, we find more rarely 

 large irregular blotchings. Sometimes the markings are more dense in the centre, 

 in other specimens at one or the other end. 



One egg from the eastern Himalayas is of a pale white ground colour, glossy 

 and faintly pitted. It is much rubbed, but on the unrubbed portions the ground 

 surface is concealed by a fine, even freckling of dark sepia, with many larger 

 centres, irregularly scattered, but about 2 mm. apart. A second egg is slightly 

 darker, with darker, less abundant markings, which, however, are individually 

 larger, with more of a blotchy character, thickest about the small end. 



A set of four from Garhwal is quite different. The ground colour is rich cream, 

 deeply pitted, and blotched with ochre. The larger blotches are glossed with very 

 evanescent translucent white, producing a peach-bloom effect which rubs off easily. 

 In two the blotches are confined to the middle third, another has them at the large 

 end, and the fourth shows them distributed evenly over the entire surface. 



They measure from 43 to 48 mm. in breadth, and from 61 to 68-5 in length ; 

 averaging 45*5 by 65 mm. 



