CHEER PHEASANT. 41 



Bill pale horny ; nude orbits bright red ; hides yellowish hazel ; 

 legs and feet brown. Length up to 46 inches, of which the tail is 

 28, but rarely so long; wing 10 ; extent 32. Weight 3 J lbs. 



The female has the head, neck, and throat with large dusky oval 

 spots ; the back is more minutely mottled, and the barring on the 

 wings more prominent ; the tail, which is much shorter, has the 

 brown mottlings bolder and more distinct; the chin is plain ; and 

 the belly and vent are plain yellowish ashy. Length 32 inches ; 

 tail 16. 



Young males are said to assume their own plumage at once. 



This fine, though plain colored Pheasant is only found in the 

 N. W. Himalayas, extending into Nepal, where however not so 

 common as further West. " It is," says Mountaineer, " an inhabitant 

 of the lower and intermediate ranges, seldom found at very high 

 elevations, and never approaching the limits of forest. Though 

 far from being rare, fewer perhaps are met with than of any other 

 kind, unless it is particularly sought for, always excepting the 

 Jewar. The reason of this may be that the general character of the 

 ground where they resort is not so inviting in appearance to the 

 sportsman as other places ; besides, they are everywhere confined to 

 particular localities, and are not like the rest scattered indiscriminate- 

 ly over almost every part of the regions they inhabit. Their haunts 

 are on grassy hills, with a scattered forest of oak and small patches 

 of underwood, hills covered with the common pine, near the 

 sites of deserted villages, old cowsheds, and the long grass amongst 

 precipices, and broken ground. They are seldom found on hills 

 entirely destitute of trees or jungle, or in the opposite extreme 

 of deep shady forest ; in the lower ranges they keep near the tops 

 of the hills or about the middle, and are seldom found in the 

 vallies or deep ravines. Further in the interior, they are generally 

 low down, often in the immediate vicinity of the villages ; except 

 in the breeding season, when each pair seek a spot to perform the 

 business of incubation, they congregate in flocks of from five or six 

 to ten or fifteen, and seldom more than two or three lots inhabit the 

 same hill. They wander about a good deal on the particular hill 

 they are located, but not beyond certain boundaries, remaining 

 about one spot for several days or weeks, and then shifting to 



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