i88 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



sleeping-bags, every bit of cloth, every article in the tent, was saturated with the 

 condensing moisture. Somewhere far off, perched among the rough, knobby branches, 

 were three birds of purest white, their soft plumage matted with the moisture, their heads 

 drawn back in soundest sleep. 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



The White Eared-pheasant occurs in the mountains of western Szechuan and 

 eastern Tibet. Until I observed three specimens in the extreme north-western finger 

 of Yunnan, not far from the Burmese boundary, it had not been observed south of the 

 Yangtze in China. Davies records the species in latitude 28°, just north-east of 

 Chungtien, and my observation - extends this southward to about 26°. In western 

 Szechuan it inhabits the high mountains from twelve to over fourteen thousand feet, 

 in forests of spruce, birch and prickly oak. For more details we must await future 

 exploration. To the west and north-west individuals seem to exhibit a greater variation, 

 and through hybridization or other factors to show characters hinting of the blue auritum. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



During the course of a journey from west to east across Tibet, Captain Hamilton 

 Bower several times met with the White Eared-pheasant, or Shagga, as the natives call 

 it. This was when he had commenced to leave the Chang, or great plateau of central 

 Tibet, across which he and his party had travelled for months without descending below 

 fifteen thousand feet. Beyond the Nam La Pass, at the lower elevation of thirteen 

 thousand feet, the Eared-pheasants were first seen. On the 23rd of December Captain 

 Bower writes : "As we heard stags were to be got on the road. Dr. Thorold and myself 

 started off in front of the caravan in the hopes of seeing some. As we descended the 

 valley, the country became very gamey-looking ; the lower parts of the hills were 

 covered w\i\i Juniper us excelsa and above were bushes in snow ; that is the sort of place 

 to find stags. We were, however, unfortunate in not seeing any, though musk-deer 

 were exceedingly plentiful, and also white pheasants, called ''shagga" in Tibet. They 

 are large, handsome birds, but terribly hard to kill ; the only chance of getting them is a 

 pellet through the head. I carefully stalked a flock of them, and, getting close, knocked 

 feathers out of some most freely, but they went away apparently none the worse; 

 following them up again I managed to bag one, but several more went away hit ; it was 

 very annoying wasting cartridges, and especially as in no case had I taken any but the 

 easiest of pot shots. They were all feeding amongst juniper bushes, and the crop of 

 the one I got was full of the berries. Their cry is a whirring sound, varied occasionally 

 by a short cluck, and they are generally found in flocks of about thirty. Lower down 

 we often found them in the fields close to the houses. As I descended from the hills 

 with the bird in my hand, I was met by a number of men with guns who had come 

 out to stop the shooting ; they said that if any animals were shot, everybody living 

 in the valley would become ill. They are a terribly superstitious people, and in their 

 superstition are apt to become dangerous." 



Twenty-one days later, at a place called Mongothong, some three hundred miles 

 travel to the eastward, Shaggas were again encountered ; up a pass over fifteen thousand 



