BLACK-BACKED KALEEGE 37 
brown. The eggs vary from 45 to 50 mm. in length, and from 36 to 39 mm. in breadth, 
the average being about 48 by 37 mm. 
Formerly the Black-backed Kaleege were abundant, but constant snaring and 
shooting in and out of season has sadly depleted their numbers. As early as 1885 it 
was said of the kaleege about Darjeeling that while they used to be very common, now 
few are seen, and in 1900 the same author (W. P. Masson) adds that, owing to 
the forest chowkidars snaring the birds all the year round, the kaleege is now one of the 
rarest birds near the hill station. This is true of all the more frequented parts of the 
bird’s range, although it is still fairly common in many isolated forests. Its haunts are 
all so accessible, however, and the range as a whole is so limited in extent, that the close 
season must be enforced rigorously if the species is not to become extinct. The fact that 
it thrives on the tea estates is a point in its favour, for the owners can forbid all killing 
or snaring on their grounds with much more hope of enforcement than could possibly be 
the case with the successful carrying out of any general law. 
On the other hand, it is almost impossible to keep the coolies from appropriating 
every egg which they find, and so, in spite of protection of the old birds, they are 
constantly growing scarcer, and as the majority of these kaleege live in places which will 
sooner or later be turned into the lucrative tea estates, there seems little ultimate hope 
for the species. 
CAPTIVITY 
A number of Black-backed Kaleege were among the survivors of the large pheasant 
collection which was received in London in July 1857, and they bred in the gardens of 
the Zoological Society the following year. Since then this species has been reared in 
captivity many times in most of the large public collections and by many private 
individuals. Two rather remarkable crosses have been produced of this species with the 
Impeyan and with Reeves pheasant. 
Its care in captivity differs in no way from that which should be accorded to the 
common silver pheasant, of which I have treated in detail as typical of this entire genus. 
The period of incubation of the Black-backed Kaleege is about twenty-four days. Of 
eight individuals confined in the London Zoo of which a record has been kept, the 
average length of life was three years and nine months, while the longest-lived kaleege 
survived for a period of thirteen years and five months, this being the record for longevity 
for the whole genus. 
DETAILED. DESCRIPTION 
ApuLT Mare.—Crest shorter than in the white-crested kaleege, but of the same 
filamentous, hairy character. Crown, crest and neck all around glossy steel blue. 
Mantle and back bluish purple, rump with more greenish reflections, all the feathers 
with a convex fringe of deep, rich purple. Wing-coverts and secondaries glossed with 
greenish. Primaries dull brown, secondaries dull brownish-black on the concealed 
parts of the webs. Upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers metallic purplish-green on the 
exposed portions of the webs, dull black elsewhere. [Ear-coverts, chin and throat 
dull black, the latter merging almost at once into the lanceolate, almost pure white, 
