COMMON KOKLASS PHEASANT ii 



darkens into nipalensis. Westward, true macrolopha have been found as far as Chamba, 

 but biddulphi characters also begin to present themselves strongly in this region. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



Within the area of the north-western Himalayas, inhabited by the Common Koklass 

 Pheasant, the bird may be found from about four thousand feet elevation up nearly to 

 the limit of the forest. This higher altitude is only occasionally attained, and by far the 

 greater number of individuals live and breed nearer the lower level. This is, of course, 

 especially true in the cold season, when the upper slopes are deserted and the Koklass 

 wander downward, while those below go still further down in the valleys. At this time, 

 owing both to the increase of numbers due to the young broods and the greater con- 

 centration of the old birds into a restricted area, Koklass are found in greater abundance 

 than at any other time of the year. 



At the lesser altitudes the birds delight in densely wooded valleys and ravines, but 

 seldom are they found at the extreme bottom, unless transiently for the purpose of 

 drinking, but usually halfway up the slopes. On these steeps, where the forest of 

 deodar, oak and chestnut is mingled with yew and box, with occasional ringal bamboo, 

 the Koklass feed and spend much of the day. If the ground is much broken up and 

 rocky, so much the better. They seem to be fond of bold, outjutting terraces or 

 boulders, and will sometimes spend days feeding in the vicinity of such a place. 



In May, I found Koklass in pairs among the great forests of deodar, fir and oak 

 in native Garhwal. On the steep, upper slopes the trunks of these splendid trees all 

 spring diagonally from the ground, and at once make a sharp curve upwards, standing 

 straight as plummets — living guides to the angle of the slope. Beneath them the 

 ground is thickly carpeted with generations of needles, while here and there one comes 

 upon a park-like vista clear of trees. In these open spaces, green lawn-like grass 

 appears, dotted sometimes with large white anemones, with now and then one of deep 

 purple. The dominant May blossom of these park-like spaces in Garhwal is a long- 

 stemmed strawberry, of which untold myriads cover the turf so thickly that one cannot 

 walk without treading many underfoot. Here at ten thousand feet elevation beds of 

 tall saxifrage push up through the fallen needles and cones, their filmy heads nodding 

 in the dim forest light. Here come the Koklass in pairs at this season, or the cock 

 alone, if his mate be sitting, and scratch among the needles for grubs and other insects, 

 and here in early morning one hears their loud, hoarse challenging. Ah I croaak I 

 croaak-croaak I crok ! the last note much lower and inaudible at a distance. 



Titmice, nuthatches and tiny grass-warblers twitter and sing among the needle- 

 foliage overhead, yellow grosbeaks follow the drifting fir-seeds to the ground, while in 

 all the more open spaces flocks of Indian wood-pigeons glean — now and then rising 

 with loud sudden smack of wing and a flashing white of tail-tip. 



The flowering vines are beautiful at this season, whorled clusters of chaste snow- 

 balls climbing over the delicate maroon-coloured young oak leaves, and five-petalled 

 clematis draping shrubs with masses of shining white stars, and mingling its sweetness 

 with the rich aroma of the deodars. 



As one walks slowly along the steep, slippery slope, a family, or rather mob of 



