xii LIST OF COLOURED PLATES 



Plate IV. PLUMAGES OF THE HIMALAYAN BLOOD PARTRIDGE (Ithagenes 



cruentus Hardwicke) ...... . . Facing page 16 



Drawn by H. Grbnvold. 



The Blood Partridge acquires its adult plumage during the first year of its life. If a chick 

 slips from its shell in May, it will be hardly distinguishable from its parents in October. Except 

 for a lack of spurs it is as well equipped for the dangers of life as its father. 



Figure I shows the chick in its down about a week old. The little wings are just visible, but the 

 legs are the most prominent feature. The head and neck are grey and black, and the body is of a 

 warm rufus. 



Five weeks later the down has been shed and the young bird is in full juvenile garb of dull 

 mottled buff and black, with terminal spots of pale buff. The legs have increased but little, but 

 the wings and tail show that the bird roosts high and can escape swiftly from any enemy. Figure 2 

 shows a juvenile bird of six weeks. 



In Figure 3 a young cock of two months is well advanced in the adult plumage. Most of the 

 juvenile brown has left his back and tail, and the green and scarlet feathers are rapidly covering 

 the breast. The two outer juvenile tail feathers and the white-shafted outer primaries are still 

 unshed. 



Plate V. GEOFFROY'S BLOOD PARTRIDGE (Ithagenes geqffroyi Verrzzux) Facing page 30 



Painted by G. E. Lodge. 



Still dominated by the majesty of Kinchinjunga, although from a wholly new angle, we find 

 this species of Blood Partridge among the snowy uplands of eastern Tibet. In pairs, or usually in 

 small-sized flocks, they glean a livelihood among the cold-stunted vegetation of the alpine meadows. 

 The nine birds which I saw together had their pleasing grey and emerald plumage set off by a 

 mass of blossoms which only the brief summers of these altitudes can bring forth — white anemones, 

 yellow saxifrage, and blue gentians that matched the sky above the distant snow peaks. 



Plate VI. NORTHERN BLOOD PARTRIDGE (Ithagenes sinensis David) Facing page 36 



Painted by G. E. Lodge. 



Five hundred miles north of the Himalayas, on the alpine slopes of the Nanshan ranges, lives 

 the Northern Blood Partridge. The Chinese call it Song-hoa-ky, the flower bird of the firs ; and 

 its soft pastel crimson, emerald russet and grey merit well the name. They spend their life among 

 low firs, among thickets of stunted willows and mountain ash. Few white men have seen them, 

 but the Chinese hunters find their coveys easy to approach, for they know little of mankind and 

 fear only the eagles and foxes and leopards which are ever on the lookout for them. 



Plate VII. THE SATYR TRAGOPAN (Tragopan satyra Linnaeus) . . Facing page 48 



Painted by A. Thorburn. 



The place is Sikhim in the Eastern Himalayas, looking toward Kabru and Kinchinjunga ; 

 the time is early May at ten thousand feet, when spring is at its height. The Satyr Tragopans 

 have finished their courtship and paired, and in a few days will begin to nest. From some mossy 

 perch the booming crescendo challenge of the cock rings out every morning. Around him the 

 rhododendron trees are masses of colour ; scarlet, salmon, cerise, pink and rose, and beneath, the 

 ground is lavendered with alpine primroses. Words can never describe the beauty of this 

 magnificent bird in its Himalayan home. 



Plate VIII. TRAGOPAN PLUMAGES (Tragopan satyra Linnaeus) . . Facing page 58 



Drawn by H. Grbnvola. 



Tragopans, unlike Blood Partridges, do not acquire the adult plumage in the first year of 

 their life. 



Figure 1. The chick in the down plumage has a rich rufous head, the body being dark rufous 

 above and pale yellow buff below. The wing feathers are well developed and the chick is able to 

 fly a day or two after it leaves the egg. 



