TETRAOGALLUS TIBETANUS, Gould. 



Tibetan Snow Partridge. 



Tetraogallus Tibetanus, Gould, in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1853. 



Having in my account of the Tetraogallus Caspius dwelt at some length upon the great value of this group 

 of birds to man, it is with no small degree of pleasure that I now introduce to my readers a figure and a 

 description of an entirely new species, of which two examples have lately been transmitted to the Honour- 

 able East India Company, one by Captain Strachey from Ladakh, the other by Mr. Hodgson by way of Nepaul. 

 This new species, to which I have given the distinctive appellation of Tibetanus, is the smallest member of the 

 genus yet discovered, besides which its specific differences are both clear and distinct : of these the principal 

 are, the uniform colouring of the primaries ; the whiteness of the throat and front of the neck ; the jet 

 black striae bordering the flank-feathers and under tail-coverts, and the bright orange bill and red feet. 



At present we know nothing of its habits or the extent of its range over the elevated regions of which it is 

 a native ; in all probability it will prove to be an eastern representative of the Altaic and Caspian species, 

 and the elevated ranges on the borders of China be found to be the head-quarters of this species. 



For permission to name and figure this interesting addition to the Tetraogalli, I am indebted to the 

 Directors of the Honourable East India Company. 



Crown of the head, cheeks, back and sides of the neck dark slate-grey, washed with buffy on the orbits ; 

 ear-coverts buffy white ; chin, all the front of the throat and the chest white ; all the upper surface, wings 

 and tail-coverts freckled buff, grey and black, the feathers of the middle of the back and the wing-coverts, 

 especially the latter, broadly edged with pale buff; rump and upper tail-coverts washed with rufous ; primaries 

 greyish brown ; secondaries tipped and broadly edged externally with white ; breast crossed by a narrow 

 band of grey, freckled with buff, and blotched with black ; under surface white, the feathers of the flanks 

 and lower part of the abdomen narrowly but conspicuously margined with jet-black, forming stripes along 

 those parts of the body ; thighs buffy grey, with a streak of brown down the centre of the feathers nearest 

 the body ; under tail-coverts black, with a broad stripe of white down the centre ; tail very dark brown in- 

 clining to rufous at the tip ; bill and feet orange-red. 



The total length of the bird is twenty-two inches ; of the bill one inch and a quarter ; of the wing ten 

 inches and a quarter ; of the tail seven inches ; of the tarsi two inches and a half. 



The figure is rather less than the natural size. 



