TETEAOGALLtrs. 427 



according to native collectors, are normally five in number. In 

 shape they are long nearly perfect ovals, slightly larger and perhaps 

 less pointed than those of the Moonal. The shell is moderately 

 fine and glossy, showing everywhere minute pitted pores similar 

 to, but much less marked than, those of the Peafowls. The ground 

 is a paler or darker olive-brown, which is more or less thinly 

 speckled and spotted, and at times blotched, with brownish red, 

 pale chestnut, reddish or purplish brown. All the spots on each 

 egg, and I think on every egg in the same clutch, are of the same 

 tint. The larger markings are apparently always towards the 

 small end of the egg. In siiie thirteen eggs that I have measured 

 vary from 2-5 to 2-8 in length, and from 1-8 to 1-98 in breadth. 



" Mountaineer " (Mr. Erederic Wilson), quoted by Dr. Jerdon, 

 long ago told us that " the eggs, which have been found by 

 travellers, are about the size of those of the Turkey ; but, like 

 those of the G-rouse, are of a more lesngthened form ; their ground- 

 colour clear light olive, sparingly dotted over with small light 

 chestnut spots." 



Later he wrote to me : — " The Snow-Pheasant or Snow-Cock 

 breeds at elevations from 12,000 to 17,500 feet, but very rarely on 

 the southern side of the Snows. The hills near the source of the 

 Ganges, and the Sutlej Valley above the junction of the Buspa, 

 which are breeding-grounds, are in reality beyond the first Snowy 

 Eange, although a person may get to them almost without seeing 

 snow. Both these places are breeding-grounds of the Snow-Phear- 

 sant, but by far the greater number of these birds which in winter- 

 are found on our side of the Snowy Eanges go up into, Thibet to 

 breed. The business of incubation commences about the end o£ 

 May, and some eggs are laid as late as the beginning of July. 

 The nest is a hole scratched in the ground under shelter of a stone 

 or rock, a tuft of grass or a juniper or other bush of the high 

 regions where it breeds. The Snow-Pheasants, and indeed all the 

 rest of the Pheasants, exercise considerable ingenuity in picking 

 out places for their nests, for they will almost always be found 

 well sheltered from the rain. None make a nest, — that is, they 

 brine/ nothing as material to it, — but nests, where grass and leaves 

 are thick, get pretty well lined with these and feathers. I have 

 never myself found a Snow-Pheasant's nest with more than five 

 eggs, and of three that I have lately examined, each contained that 

 number ; but the paharis and Tartars assure me that they lay up 

 to nine, and even twelve, and I have certainly seen as many as a 

 dozen chicks at a time altogether. Still it is very possible these 

 may have belonged to more than one brood. Snow-Pheasants are 

 eminently gregarious and do not always separate into pairs for the 

 purpose of incubation. Where a lot of young chicks are seen, 

 several old birds will generally be seen too. The eggs are about 

 2*7 long by 1'9 wide, of a greenish hue, minutely speckled with 

 brown, chiefly at the pointed end." 



Colonel Biddulph, writing on the birds of Gilgit, says : — 

 " Common everywhere in favourable ground. It makes its nest at 



