PUCRASIA MACROLOPHA. 



Himalayan Pucras Pheasant. 



Satyra macrolopha, Less. Diet. Sci. Nat. torn. lix. p. 196. 



Phasianus pucrasia, Gray in Griff. An. Kingd. vol. vii. p. 610— lb. Ind. Zool. pi. .—Gould's Century of Birds, 



pis. 69, 70. 



Pncrasse, Gray in Griff. An. Kingd. vol. viii. p. 26. • 



Tragopan Diwaucelii, Temm. PL Col. 545. 



Eulophus macroloplws, Less. Comp. Buff. torn. viii. p. 354. 



Pucrasia macrolopha, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. p. 503.— Gray, List of Birds in Brit. Mus. Coll. 



part iii. p. 31.— Blyth, Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 245. 



It will be seen by the above list of synonyms that this well-known and beautiful species has been honoured 

 with as many names, both generic and specific, as any other of the Phasiamdce inhabiting India. Its native 

 habitat is the central portion of the great Himalayan range, to the eastward of which it is represented by 

 the Pucrasia Mpalensis, and to the westward by the Pucrasia castanea. I learn from the notes of the late 

 Hon. F. J. Shore that it is found all over Gurhwall, on ridges from 5500 to 8000 feet high, and that its 

 native name is Koklas or Ficklas. Major-Gen. Hardwicke procured it on the Almorah Hills, and Dr. William 

 Jameson states that it inhabits the Himalayas at an elevation of from 1800 to 5000 feet. 



As is the case with the other species of Pheasants, the sexes offer very considerable difference in the 

 colouring of their plumage, and the young probably resemble the female until after the second moult; but 

 on this, as indeed upon all other points connected with the habits and economy of the species, nothing has 

 as yet been recorded. 



Forehead, cheeks, throat, and the lower or lengthened part of the crest dark shining green ; hinder part 

 of the head and upper or shorter part of the crest dull sandy buff, the two colours mingling on the occiput ; 

 on each side of the neck within the green a large oval spot of pure white ; lanceolate feathers of the back 

 and sides of the neck ashy grey at the base, passing into purer grey towards the tip, and each with a narrow 

 streak of black down the centre ; the wing-coverts and flank feathers are very similar, but the streak down 

 the centre is broader at the base,- the ashy grey is of redder hue, and the edges fade almost to white; those 

 on the lower part of the flanks moreover have pale buffy shafts ; the feathers of the centre of the breast and 

 abdomen are rich deep chestnut, some few on the sides being blackish brown edged with whitish, and others 

 with the inner web chestnut, and the outer one blackish brown edged with whitish ; feathers of the back 

 and rump pale ashy grey, fading into whitish on the edge, and with a narrow streak of black down the basal 

 portion of the shaft, exchanged on the rump and upper tail-coverts into a larger mark divided by a light- 

 coloured shaft ; greater coverts and secondaries blackish brown margined with ashy grey, becoming paler 

 on the edge ; primaries brownish black on their inner webs, and buff" on their outer ones and at the tip of 

 both ; tertiaries reddish ash at the base, a streak of deep buff down the centre, and a large spade-shaped 

 mark of black edged with grey at the tip ; central tail-feathers dull chestnut-red, stained with black near 

 the base and on either side of the shaft ; lateral feathers brownish black ; the basal half of the external 

 web rufous, and margined with grey stained with rufous at the tip ; vent feathers black, edged with 

 whitish ; under tail-coverts black, with a streak of chestnut-red down the tip, passing into the whitish fringe 

 of the extremity ; bill black ; feet horny brown. - 



The general tint of the female is a pale brown, blotched and freckled with black, the blotches being 

 largest and most conspicuous on the back, scapularies, and outer webs of the secondaries ; each feather of 

 those parts has also a stripe down the centre, which is of a deep tawny buff on the upper part of the back, 

 becoming on the coverts and scapularies of a pale or whitish buff; ear-coverts mottled buff and black ; over 

 the eye a streak of buff, and a broader one from the angle of the mouth ; throat buff, bounded on each side 

 by a series of deeper buff feathers tipped with black, which are continued and spread out both backward 

 and forward at the base of the neck ; breast deep tawny, mottled with black ; flanks and thighs similar, 

 with a stripe of buff down the centre of each feather ; under tail-coverts chestnut, blotched with black near, 

 and a large spot of white at, the tip ; tail-coverts and central tail-feathers pale brown, crossed with broad 

 irregular bands of deep or tawny buff; lateral feathers crossed near the tip with a broad band, which as 

 well as the inner webs is black ; basal portion of the outer webs chestnut ; all conspicuously edged with 

 white at the tip. 



Total length, 22i inches ; wing, 9f ; tail, 9i ; tarsi, 2f . 



The Plate represents both sexes of the size of life. 



