THE IMPEYAN PHEASANT. 133 



gallinaceous birds, the monaul may be said to be omniyorous. Those I have had in 

 confinement ate rice and grain readily, as well as insects, worms, maggots, flesh, 

 lizards, fish, eggs, &c. It is a diligent digger, and the slightly expanded tip of the 

 mandible acts like a hoe or shovel. I had several of these birds in an aviary at 

 Mullye, in Tirhoot. They were strong and vigorous as long as the cold weather 

 lasted, and soon became tame, and did not succumb to the atmosphere of the plains 

 till June, when the rains had set in. Unlike the smaller hiU pheasants, they were 

 not pugnacious. If shipped off early in the cold weather from Calcutta, these birds 

 could easily enough be transported to England, where the temperattire would suit 

 them, if there were any means of giving them shelter during the extreme severity 

 of winter, or of procuring for them in that season a proper substitute for the insect 

 food which never fails them on the lower elevations of the Himala. If they could 

 become as thoroughly acclimated as the common pheasant, they would indeed be a 

 superb ornament to our parks and plantations, though perhaps no great acquisition 

 to the table. It is many years ago since I tasted the monaul, and, speaking from 

 memory, the flavour appeared to me much the same as that of peafowl, the breast 

 being tender and palatable in the young birds, but no part being fit for anything 

 but soup in old specimens. The monaul has bred in England, both in the Zoological 

 Gardens of London and in the possession of the Earl of Derby, where the female 

 is said to have laid on one occasion thirteen to fourteen eggs." 



In appropriate localities there should be little difS^culty in rearing the young, 

 which should be amply supplied with custard and ants' eggs, in preference to much 

 grain, and the fowl rearing them should be allowed as much freedom as possible, 

 in order that she may supply the young chicks with appropriate insect food. 



The following is the description of the two sexes and young: — "The biU of 

 the male is dusky brown or horny ; iris sombre brown ; legs greenish lead colour ; 

 naked orbits ; small blue head ; crest and throat green, and highly metallic ; the 

 lanceolate feathers on the hind neck amethystine or bright purple, changing in 

 lights into cupreous green with a golden glance; middle of the back white; but 

 all the rest of the upper parts, including the upper tail coverts, rich blue, glancing 

 with green and purple, highly glossed, the purple predominating on the back and 

 rump, the green on the wing and tail coverts; remiges, plain black; tail pale rust 

 colour; aU under parts black, and without gloss. The female is entirely cinnamon 

 brown; the feathers shafted pale, and irregularly barred and marked sepia; primaries 

 blackish; chin and throat white. Entire length of the male, about 24 inches; 

 wing, 11; tail, 7^. The female is a little smaller. The young males are at first 

 like the female, but may be distinguished by the black spots on the chin and 

 throat. They assume the adult plumage gradually, and in irregular patches scattered 

 over the body." 



