KUSER'S BLOOD PARTRIDGE 29 



Himalayan birds it at once stands apart as almost lacking the white or cream colour on 

 the anterior part of the body, in the solid black gorget on face and neck, in the 

 remarkable amount of crimson, and in the geoffroyi type of wing. 



The female of Kuser's Blood Partridge differs from that oicruentus in being of a 

 general darker colour. The rufous in the western bird is replaced by brown, and the 

 breast, instead of being plain rusty-brown or rufous, is vermiculated with brown and buff. 

 The slate colour of the head and nape is much darker, almost black, and the chestnut of 

 the forehead and sides of the head is much richer and deeper. 



Captain Bailey has gathered a number of notes on the habits of this species, 

 published both by himself and by Mr. Baker, from which I excerpt the following. 

 These birds are most extraordinarily common in certain parts of the country we visited, 

 keeping close to the snowline, and apparently moving up and down between eight 

 thousand and fourteen thousand feet as the snow increased or receded. They are often 

 found in deep snow. Once when I was snowed up for several days, these birds came 

 round my tent. They go about in flocks of from ten to twenty, and they fly very un- 

 willingly, and when forced to take wing, settle again almost immediately and take to 

 their legs. They are never found in the open but always in fairly deep forest. 



The Mishmis trap them by building a light fence made of twigs about eighteen 

 inches in height, usually along a contour of the hill in the forest. In this, gates are 

 kept open just wide enough to admit a bird, and in these openings a noose is placed, 

 made of fine roots and fixed to a bent, springy bamboo. The birds, when feeding, 

 wander down to the fence and do not hop or fly over, but follow it until they reach one 

 of the gates, and the first bird to pass is usually caught. 



Another writer says that while Kuser's Blood Partridge is usually found in bamboo 

 jungle close to the snowline, in early morning and late evenings they come out into the 

 open. When there was snow on the ground they were very conspicuous. They would 

 make no attempt to move until fired at, and even then would often settle almost within 

 gunshot. While usually in flocks of about a dozen, they would sometimes be seen 

 in parties of as many as forty. They fed on seeds and vegetable matter mixed with 

 insects. 



Ithaginis kuseri Beebe, Zoologica, I. 191 2, p. 190. 



Ithagenes cruentus kuseri Baker, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, XXXIII. 1913, p. 83. 

 • Ithagenes kuseri Baker, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, XXXV. 1914, p. 18 ; Baker, Ibis, 1915, p. 122 ; Baker, Jour. 

 Bomb. Nat. His. Soc, XXIV. 1916, p. 395. 



