40 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 



Himalayas, may perhaps occur within our limits in Cashmere, 

 and the Punjab Himalayas, but has not, that I am aware of, been 

 actually recorded from any spot in our province. 



The true Pheasants follow the Pukras group very closely. 



Gen. Phasianus, Linnaeus (as restricted.) 



Char. — Tail elongated, cuneate, of eighteen feathers ; cheeks 

 naked, red ; tarsi spurred in the males. 



The true long-tailed Pheasants are found over all Central Asia, 

 one species only occurring as far south as the Himalayan mountains, 

 and none found in Burmah, nor in Malay an a. 



The type of the genus is the well known PJiasianus colchicus, 

 L., an inhabitant of Western Asia, now naturalized throughout 

 great part of Europe. 



The only Indian species differs somewhat in type of coloration 

 from the more typical members, and has been separated as Catreus 

 by Cabanis, but 1 shall not adopt the division. 



11. Phasianus Wallichii, Hardwicke. 



Lophophorus, apud Hardwicke— Blyth, Cat. 1473 — Gould, 

 Cent. H. Birds, pi. 68— P. Stacei, Vigors — Chir, Cheor, Ban- 

 chil, and Ilerril, in various parts of the Himalayas — Kahir in 

 Nepal. 



The Cheer Pheasant. 



Descr. — Male, head dark ashy, crested, with a few long hair- 

 like feathers ; neck light ashy, gradually becoming slightly barred 

 with dusky black ; shoulders and wing-coverts yellowish ash, with 

 curving bars of black ; and, in some birds, small shining golden 

 spots are mingled with the black curves on the shoulder ; primaries 

 dusky, partially barred with pale yellow ; back and rump light 

 reddish chesnut, barred with bluish-black ; tail much graduated, 

 the two long middle tail-feathers broadly barred with pale speckled 

 yellow and brownish olive, blotched and speckled with black ; the 

 others barred with pale yellow black and dark chesnut ; the throat 

 and breast yellowish-ashy, with a few curving bars of black ; belly 

 dusky ; thigh-coverts and vent yellowish chesnut, marked with 

 dusky. 



