1838.] Notes of a journey to Girndr. 865 



remarkable feature. The plumage, then, upon the whole body is very 

 ample, but not at all pointed, unglossed and wholly dishevelled, so as 

 to remind one of the Struthious family. This peculiarity has suggest- 

 ed the name I have applied to the bird— a name which, for the 

 present, may be considered specific, but liable to promotion to generic 

 or subgeneric rank, if the form be proved to be typical, and not merely 

 aberrant. 



At present I incline to consider it in the former light, and to assign 

 the type a place between Phasianus and Euplocomus, vel Nycthe- 

 merus — a type which, by the bye, I characterised 1 1 years ago in the 

 Oriental Quarterly, under the style of Gallophasis, assigning the 

 Kdlich of Kir kpatrick's Nepal as the icon. The oblique compres- 

 sion and curve of the tail constitute the principal character of that type, 

 ( Gallophasis, vel Euplocomus, J and as it is a character sure to be 

 lost in the dry skin, I am not entirely certain, that our present subject 

 may not possess it in the living state. If so, this bird will be a 

 Gallophasis, vel Euplocomus — but if not, a neighbouring type allied 

 to the true pheasant by the absence of crest, and distinguished amongst 

 all its congeners by its ample fringe-like plumage, the dishevelled 

 quality of which is communicated even to the central tail feathers, the 

 very broad and equal webs of which are quite separated, and curve 

 outwards towards the sides, besides being adorned by a fine gloss. 



The general color of our bird is bluish hoary, paler, and tinted 

 yellow on the lower surface : crown of the head black and velvety : 

 great alar and caudal plumes dusky or black, more or less glossed with 

 changeable blue, especially the tail feathers : legs and cheek-piece, 

 intense sanguine : bill dull ochreous red ; iris brown. 



Nepal, September, 1838. 



V. — Notes of a journey to Girndr in the Province of Kattywdr,for 

 the purpose of copying the ancient inscriptions upon the rock near 

 that place. — Undertaken by order of the Bombay Government. 



May lO^/i, 1838. — Landed at the small port of Verawul on the wes- 

 tern coast, and nearly at the southern extremity of Kattywdr. This 

 place is only 40 miles from Junogarh, and in the immediate vicinity of 

 the ancient city of Pattan, and of the celebrated Somndth. Owing to the 

 lateness of the season, and the imperative necessity which existed for my 

 proceeding to the scene of my labours with the least possible delay, my 

 time was not at my own disposal ; still I lost none in paying even a 

 5 Q 2 



