NEPAL HIMALAYAN BLOOD PARTRIDGE 



Ithagenes cruentus cruentus (Hardwicke) 



TYPES.— In the British Museum. Localities : <J Nepal Hills ; $ Valley of Nepal. Major-General 

 Hardwicke. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. — Nepal, southern boundary of Tibet, northern native Sikhim. 



SUBSPECIFIC CHARACTERS. — Male : Pectoral crimson abundant and strong in tone, starting well up on 

 the lower throat, and extending posteriorly as spots over more or less of the ventral plumage, sometimes even to 

 the flanks. All the rectrices, save the single outer pair, tinged and fringed with crimson. Averages slightly smaller 

 than affinis. Female : Warmer in tone than affinis. Some of the rectrices always tinged with crimson. Nepalese 

 birds have a distinct crimson or deep rosy wash in the form of a band around the facial area, and a noticeable wash 

 of the same colour on the chin and throat. 



EARLY HISTORY 



In 1822 Major-General T. Hardwicke, in the "Transactions of the Linnean 

 Society of London," described the first known male specimen of the Himalayan Blood 

 Partridge under the name of Phasianus cruentus. This bird is the typically, heavily 

 crimsoned western form. Five years later, he gave the name P. gardneri to the female, 

 under the impression that it was a wholly different species. Both specimens were 

 obtained in Nepal, and of the female, the describer says that it came from "the snowy 

 mountains north of the Valley of Nepaul." Hardwicke tells us that it was procured 

 " through the zealous exertions of my friend Dr. Nathaniel Wallich, aided by the 

 influence of the English Resident at Katmandoo (The Honourable Edward Gardner), 

 without which no single article, of however little value, is obtainable by strangers 

 from that jealous people the Nepaulese." It is remarkable that to-day, ninety 

 years after this was written, conditions in Nepal remain quite the same. 



The types of both male and female are now in the British Museum. 



Ithagenes cruentus cruentus 



Phasianus cruentus Hardwicke, Trans. Linn. Soc, XIII. 1822, p. 237. 



Sanguine Pheasant Latham, Gen. Hist, VIII. 1823, p. 205. 



Perdix cruenta Temminck, PI. Col., V. 1825, pi. 31, no. 332 ; Lessing, Traite" d'Orn., 1831, p. 504. 



Phasianus gardneri Hardwicke, Trans. Linn. Soc, XV. 1827, p. 167. 



Lop 'hophorus gardneri Lessing, Man. d'Orn., II. 1828, p. 180. 



Phasianus cruentatus Gray, in Griff, ed. Cuv., III. 1829, p. 47. 



Perdix gardneri Gray, in Griff, ed. Cuv., III. 1829, p. 47. 



Ithaginis cruentus Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 1228 ; Gray, List of Birds, pt. III. 1844, Gall., p. 31 ; id. Gen. 

 Birds, III. 1846, p. 504; Blyth, Cat. Mus. As. Soc, 1849, P- 2 A l \ Reichenbach, Handb. Speci. Orn., 1851, 

 tab. XXVII ; Gould, Birds of Asia, VII. 1851, p. 43 {partim), plate; Jerdon, Birds of India, III. 1863, p. 522 

 {partim); Gray, List Gallinae Brit. Mus., 1867, p. 46; id. Hand-list Birds, II. 1870, p. 264; Elliot, Mon. 

 Phas., II. 1872, text {partim), plate; Hume & Marshall, Game Birds of India, I. 1878, p. 155, pi. {partim); 

 Scully, Stray Feathers, VIII. 1879, p. 343; Bianchi, Annuaire du Mus. Zoo. TAcad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersb., t. 

 VIII. 1903, p. 1 ; Bianchi, translation of above, Journ. fiir Orn., LII. 1904, p. 70 {partim); Beebe, Zoologica, 

 I. 1914, p. 266. 



Perdix cruentatus Jardine, Nat. Lib. Orn., IV. 1834, p. 112. 



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