GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 37 



The Blood-Pheasant. 



Ithagenes cruentus, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, 

 Vol. IV., p. 103. 



Native names : — Chilime, Nepalese ; Semo, 

 Bhutan ; See-mong, Lepcha. 



Only one species of this very well-marked genus 

 is found with us. It is a small bird for a pheasant, 

 being about a foot and a half long, with a broad 

 rounded tail not so long as the closed wing, the 

 whole bird being thus rather partridge-like in 

 style. The plumage is very characteristic, being 

 long, fxiU, and soft ; the crown has a short bushy 

 •crest, and there is bare skin round the eye. Cock 

 and hen are much alike in shape, but differ abso- 

 lutely in colour, and the former has several spurs 

 on each leg. 



In colour he is grey streaked with white above 

 and on the flanks and lower belly ; the breast is 

 apple-green splashed with crimson, and the throat 

 and feathers under the tail .'are crimson. 



The hen is brown, finely pencilled with black, 

 and with a grey cap and chestnut throat. 



The legs are coral-red, as also are the base of 

 the bill and the bare eye-patch, which is brighter 

 in the male, however. The bill is black. 



The cock will measure about eighteen inches, 

 with a wing of eight and-a-half, tail nearly seven, 

 shank nearly three, and biU under one inch. The 

 hen is a little smaller. This is a thoroughly alpine 

 bird, ranging between ten and fourteen thous- 

 -and feet in the Himalayas, where alone it is found. 

 It occurs in Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan, but its 



