88 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 



some black bars ; the pinion-quills are white with 

 broad black tips. The bill is horn colour, the 

 feet orange, and the eyes dark, with a patch of 

 bare yellow skin behind them. The hen is easily 

 distinguishable from the cock by her much smaller 

 size ; she is about two inches under two feet long, 

 while he exceeds that length by about two inches. 

 Young birds show some brown mottling on the 

 forehead which is not present in old ones. 



This noble partridge is found from Afghanistan 

 and Central Asia all along the Himalayas as far as 

 Kumaon. According to season it is found at from 

 18,000 to 7,000 feet elevation, keeping usually in 

 flocks, which frequent open rocky groimd. It 

 breeds high up, from May to July, usually laying 

 five eggs, drab with reddish brown spots, and rea ch- 

 ing nearly three inches in length. The golden 

 eagle appears to spend a good deal of its time in 

 trying to catch these birds, without very much 

 success ; for they are very wideawake, and the 

 human hunter finds a rifle the best weapon with 

 which to come to terms with them. And then 

 when they are brought to bag they are not good 

 eating according to European tastes, although 

 natives are glad enough to get them. The call 

 of this bird is a whistle which it keeps uttering all 

 the while it flies. 



The Tibetan Snow-cock. 



Tetraogallus tibetanus, Faun. Brit. Ind., 

 Birds, Vol. IV, page 144. 



Native name : — Hrak-fa, Bhutia in Sikkim. 



This bird bears a general resemblance to the 

 last, but is considerably smaller ; it has no chest- 



