WESTERN KOKLASS PHEASANT 



Pucrasia macro lop ha castanea Gould 



Names. — Specific : castanea, from tlie excess and richness of the chestnut colour in the plumage. English : 

 Kafiristan or Chestnut Koklass ; Western Koklass. 



Brief Description. — Male : Similar to macrolopha, but with the deep chestnut extending over the whole 

 ventral plumage, and covering the entire hind neck and the mantle ; back, with slightly increased black pigment, 

 and tail-feathers with chestnut almost obsolete. Female: Unknown; probably similar to macrolopha, but with 

 increased melanism. 



Range.— Kafiristan. 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



The few known specimens of this form of Koklass Pheasant have been collected 

 in Chitral and Kafiristan. The locality of '' Northern Afghanistan," meaning apparently 

 the region still further to the west of Kafiristan, is based upon the mere mention of the 

 fact by Captain Marshall. As he also states that nipaleitsis is found in " Bhotan," there 

 seems no reason on that score to give credence to the fact. Koklass, however, are not 

 uncommon in Chitral, close to the Afghan border, so it is not impossible that the birds 

 will be found in the latter country. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



In Lower Chitral the Western Koklass is common on the heavily forested slopes 

 of the mountains, such as Pattison, Asseth, and the valley beyond Drosh Fort. These 

 slopes are covered with splendid deodars, and the pheasants spend most of their time 

 in the shade of these conifers. They occasionally, however, wander out upon the treeless 

 areas for food, especially early in the morning, and the crowing of the cocks is often 

 heard from some tree near the open zone. The bare slopes are clothed only with low- 

 growing herbage, with here and there a patch of willow and birch, stunted and gnarly on 

 the more lofty elevations. 



In winter the birds are driven downward into the more sheltered valleys by the 

 severe weather, but in summer they are seldom found below an elevation of seven or 

 eight thousand feet. Although it is a rather difficult matter to secure or even to 

 approach these birds owing to the dense character of the undergrowth which they 

 inhabit, yet their presence in any locality is at once revealed by their loud, harsh crow. 

 At a distance this kokf kok I kokrass I is not unlike the short, broken crow of the 

 red junglefowl, and this resemblance has led to many mistakes. The latter bird, 

 however, is never found at such high elevations as the Koklass. When the pheasant 

 is heard near at hand, the calls of the two birds can never be confused. 



The two dismounted, but very much over-stuffed adult male types from which 

 Gould described this form are now in the British Museum of Natural History, and 



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