LOPHOPHORUS NIGELLI. 



lustre of the long metallic plumes by which the neck and other parts are 

 adorned. This bird is of a wild nature, and dwells in solitary places, 

 among the high mountains of the north of Hindostan. It is the Loph. 

 refulgens of the modern systems, and the Impey an Pheasant of La- 

 tham, so called in honour of Lady Impey, through whom the species ap- 

 pears to have been first made known to English writers. To the genus 

 Lophophorus also belongs a bird, which previous to the investigations of 

 M. Temminck, seems to have been confounded with the pheasants. It is 

 the Faisan noir of Sonnini, and the Coloured Pheasant (Phasianus leuco- 

 melanos) of Latham. It resembles the preceding species in its habits, 

 comes from the same country, and is now named after the great French 

 naturalist Loph. Cuvieri. The description in Latham was taken from a 

 drawing belonging to Lady Impey. The only other species hitherto 

 known, was lately described by General Hardwicke in the 15th volume 

 of the Linnean Transactions. It is a native of the Almorah hills, on the 

 north-eastern boundary of Hindostan, and is named Loph. Wallichii, in 

 honour of Dr Wallich, the well known Indian botanist and collector. 



" We are happy to have it in our power to add a fourth species to this 

 interesting group. We are as yet only acquainted with the female, which 

 was lately sent from Persia by Dr Macneil, the enlightened physician to 

 the English Embassy at that court. From the slight notes which were 

 furnished, it appears to resemble the others in its manners. It inhabits the 

 more secluded and mountainous parts of Persia, where it is esteemed rare 

 even by experienced sportsmen, and is known by the name of Kepk-i- 

 derree, or Mountain Partridge. It has been named Loph. Nigelli, in re- 

 membrance of the individual by whom it was first transmitted to Europe. 

 The description of the female is as follows : 



" Head, back of the neck, and breast, of a pale dingy blue or slate colour, 

 lighter on the breast, and passing into pale reddish-brown on the upper 

 part of the back ; a dingy white streak from the nostril to the anterior 

 angle of the eyes : chin, throat, and front of the neck, pure white ; another 

 white streak, increasing in breadth as it descends, passes from the termi- 

 nation of the auricular feathers down the sides of the neck : the general 

 colour of the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, is composed of very minute 

 irregular zig-zag lines of black, intermixed with similar lines of a yellowish- 

 brown, with numerous lengthened spots, likewise of a pale yellowish-brown 

 or cream colour, but tinged in part with a darker reddish-brown : these 

 spots are large and abundant on the scapulars and wing-coverts : the 

 plumage of the belly and vent resembles that of the upper parts, but the 



