TI[E I}IPEY.[M I'ffEASANT. 247 



cold weatlier lasted, and soon hi-caine tame, and did not 

 succumb to tin.' a tniosplirrr mT the plains till June, when the 

 rains had set in. Unlike tljo smaller hill pheasants, they were 

 not pugnaei(jus. If ship])ed oh early in the cold weather 

 from Calcutta, these hirds cdidd easily enough be transported 

 to England, where the teiiiperature would suit tln.'ni, it there 

 were any means of giving them shelter during the extreme 

 severity i_if winter, or of proeuiing for tlieni in that season a 

 proper substitute for the insect food which never fails them 

 on the lower elevations of the ILim.-ihi. If they could l)ecome 

 as thoroughly acclimated as the common pheasant, they would 

 indeed be a superb ornament to our parks and plantation, 

 though perhajis no great acrpiisitioti to the tat>le. It is 

 many years agij since 1 tasted the Monaul, and, speaking 

 from memory, the flavour ajipeared to me much the same as 

 that of ])eaf.:)wl, the breast being tender and palataldo m the 

 young birds, but no part being lit for anything but soup in 

 old specimens. The Monaul has bred iu England, both in the 

 Zoological (birdens of L(jnd(iu and iu the possession of the 

 Earl of Derby, where the female is said to have laid <:m one 

 occasion thirteen or fourteen eggs." 



In ap]irMpriate localities there should be httle difficulty iu 

 rearing the young, which should be amply sujiplied with 

 custard a,ud ants' eggs, in preference to much grain, and the 

 fowl rearing them should he allowed as much freedom as 

 possible, iu order that she may supply the young chicks with 

 appropriate lusect food. 



The following is the description of tlie two sexes and 

 young: "' The bill of the male is dusky brown or homy : ins 

 sombre brown ; legs greenish lead colour ; naked orbits; small 

 blue heail ; crest and throat green, and highly metallic ; the 

 lanceolate feathers on the hind neck amethystine or bright 

 purple, changing in lights into cniu'eous green with a. goldeu 

 ulance ; middle of the back white; but all the rest oF the 



& ' ■111 



upper parts, including the npiier tail CLivevts, rich Ijlue, 

 u-lancing with -a-eeu and purple, highly glos^eil, the purple 



