THE BIEDS OF MONGOLIA ETC. 427 



205. Tetraogallus thibetanus, Gould. Shalistaya kuropatha, 



Gould^ Birds of Asia^ part v. pi. 



According to Gould's plate and Hume's description in ^Lahore to 

 Yarkand/ p. 281, the female of the present species is similar to the male, 

 except in a few trifling characteristics ; whereas a female bird obtained by 

 us in Kan-su diff^ers from the male by having only a narrow white stripe 

 along the centre of the throat, whilst the sides of the throat, crop, and front 

 of the breast are similar to the back — i. e, yellowish brown, with many 

 blackish streaks and blotches. 



A male bird, also from Kan-su, has, under the throat, a large slate- 

 coloured spot, and has not got an uninterrupted cross band running parallel 

 to the breast-band, which is spoken of by Hume, but which is not marked 

 at all in Gould's figure. 



The culmen of the male is orange-colour, that of the female yellowish 

 green ; legs in both sexes orange-red ; toes underneath yellow. 



The Mongols call this bird " Hailik," and the Tanguts " Cunmo." We 

 met with it in Kan-su, South Koko-nor mountains, and in Northern Tibet ; 

 and in all these places it inhabits the wild and desolate rocks and ravines, 

 not below an altitude of 10,000 feet above the sea; and in Tibet it ascends 

 even up to 16,000 feet. 



The habits of this peculiar bird have been described by me in the first 

 volume (p. 348) of the present work; and now I will add some more 

 particulars concerning it. 



Like C. chuhar the present species is a quick and lively bird ; and its 

 voice can almost daily be heard, at least in spring and summer, in the midst 

 of the wildest and most desolate parts of the mountains. In the middle of 

 the day, however, from about 11 to 3 o'clock, they do not call, but usually 

 rest ; in the morning they begin long before sunrise. 



The voice of this Snow- Partridge varies in the following ways:— 



