IIIIIIIFI ttRtlHNEAMMr, 



Crossoptilum tibetanum, Hodgson. 



Vernacular ITamos.— [Bhote Dafe, Nepal. ] 



HIS is another species which could hardly claim to be 

 included in the Game Birds of India. Hodgson ob- 

 tained the unique specimen of this striking bird 

 (which now graces the national collection) in Nepal 

 it is true, but it had been brought in by an envoy 

 who had been to Pekin ; he does not appear to have 

 been questioned as to where he met with the species, 

 and it is impossible to say now where he did get it* 



I however wished to reproduce exactly (as I have done) 

 Mr. Hodgson's original drawing, taken from the fresh bird (so 

 unlike the lovely fancy plate in Grey's Genera), and his full origi- 

 nal description, now only to be met with in an old volume of 

 the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, long since out 

 of print. 



It has been surmised that this species is identical with that 

 discovered by David, at Moupin, and named Crossoptilum 

 dt'ouyni by Verreaux, but all the specimens of this latter as yet 

 obtained consistently differ in some important particulars from 

 Hodgson's type. 



IT MAY be well to note that in all these Eared-Pheasants, and 

 there are at least two other known species (C. mantchuricum and 

 auritiun), the females only differ from the males in wanting 

 spurs. 



Mr. Hodgson's description is as follows : — 



" The length, from the tip of the bill to the tip of the tail, 

 is from 38 to 40 inches, of which the bill is r62, and the tail 

 19 to 20 inches. 



* But note what Colonel Tickell remarked in the Field, March 3, 1866, p. 170 : — 

 " Next in order to the Moonal should come the Crossoptilon, or Snow Pheasant, of 

 which two species have been discovered, C. auritum and C. tibetanum. They are 

 fine stately birds, with a pure white plumage, and large satin green tails ; but my 

 knowledge of them is limited to the inspection of a stuffed skin of C. tibetanum, in 

 the possession of some Bhutias who were passing through Nepal on their way to the 

 plains in 1840." If this is to be relied on, the birds may come from nearer Nepal 

 than has generally been surmised. 



