GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 63 



The Common Koklass or Pukras. 



Pucrasia macrolopha, Fauna Brit. Ind., 

 Birds, Vol. IV, p. 85. 



Native names : — Plas, Kashmir ; Kukrola, 

 Chamba ; Koak, Kulu, Mandi ; Koklass, 

 Kokla, Simla to Almora ; Pokras, Ku- 

 maun, Garhwal and W. Nepal. 



The cock of this species has a dark green head, 

 with the central crest fawn-colour, and a white 

 spot at each side at the commencement of the neck. 

 The front of the neck is chestnut, and this colour 

 extends right down the breast and belly, becom- 

 ing paler behind. The rest of the body plumage 

 is streaked with black and grey, the former colour 

 occupying the centre of the feathers, and the latter 

 the edges. The centre tail-feathers are reddish 

 brown, and the others black with narrow white 

 tips, and running into chestnut towards the root. 



The Koklass, however, is a very variable spe- 

 cies, especially with regard to the breadth of the 

 chestnut colouring on the under-parts and the 

 proportions of the black and grey in the body 

 feathers. In the typical bird, as found in the 

 N.-W. Himalayas, the black centre stripe is about 

 as wide as the grey edging, but in Western Nepal 

 specimens the black is much increased, and the 

 chestnut shows a tendency to extend to the back 

 and sides of the neck. But the two forms run into 

 each other. Again, the ra:ce from Western Kashmir 

 combines this extension of the chestnut neck colour 

 with the narrow black stripes of the type. All 

 these variations have been named as spiecies, the 

 North- West Himalayan bird being the true Pucra- 



