38 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



under plumage. This is whiter than in either albocristatus or leticomelanus as far 

 back as the mid-abdomen, where the feathers lose their tapering character. The flanks 

 and posterior portion of the abdomen are brownish-black. All the feathers of the 

 lower plumage have white shafts, conspicuous only on the darker feathers. The 

 under tail-coverts are slightly glossed with greenish. 



The facial skin is scarlet, with almost no trace of featherlets except on the fleshy 

 grey lower eye-lid. In fully adult males the gular wattles are quite well developed. 

 The mandibles are yellowish, or more usually greenish horn colour, darker at the 

 base and about the nostrils. The irides are a warm hazel brown. Legs and feet 

 pale horny brown. Weight, 2 lbs. 6 ozs. to 2 lbs. 12 ozs. Length, 530 to 630; 

 expanse, 670 to 730 ; wing, 235 ; tail, 265 ; tarsus, 75 ; middle toe and claw, 65 ; bill 

 from nostril, 19 mm. 



In an extreme type of coloration, which, however, is rare, there is no trace of 

 white on the upper plumage, the purple fringe being immaculate. In the greater 

 proportion of individuals many of the feathers of the back, rump, inner wing-coverts 

 and tertiaries have a conspicuous mottled white terminal fringe. Blyth's type now 

 in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, is a good example of this. A few of the scapulars 

 show faint traces of terminal white, increasing on the lesser coverts to a very distinct 

 band, and reaching its maximum on the middle coverts, where, besides the terminal 

 band, there is a white mottling for two or three millimetres farther up on the webs. 

 On most of these coverts the white is so pronounced that it is plainly visible twenty 

 feet away. On the rump feathers the white is present as a faint, light band, most 

 strongly developed on the most posterior rump feathers. Now and then a bird will 

 be found with the mantle tipped with shaded grey as in albocristatus. This appear- 

 ance of grey or silvery white on the mantle feathers is always correlated with a 

 change in form as well, the feathers being pointed and narrowed in exact proportion 

 to the amount of light colour ; and truncated and broadened as there is less, or a 

 total lack of the whitish. These are undoubted indications of close relationship with 

 the allied kaleege, but I know of no specimen indicating true sub-specific connection 

 or hybridism, and do not believe that the several species now intergrade or cross 

 in a wild state. 



Rather curiously, the traces of the atavistic light vermiculation on the middle 

 tail-feathers are found on fewer individuals and, on the whole, less strongly 

 developed than in albocristatus and leticomelanus, in which it is so common a 

 character in both young and adult male birds. 



Adult Female. — Fresh skins of this species show a very decided difference 

 from the females of the Nepal kaleege, in the very pronounced melanism of the 

 entire plumage. Whereas the latter would be described as rufescent, melanonotus is 

 distinctly black. There is, as in all of these kaleege, considerable variation, but the 

 lightest and brownest of a large series which I collected in various parts of Sikhim, 

 are distinguishable at a glance from the fresh Nepal specimens. 



The crown and crest are dark brown, while the chin, throat, lower face and 

 neck all around are grey, paler below, but cold grey on the side and hind neck. The 

 entire upper plumage in dark specimens is a blackish brown, with well-marked grey 



