1 52 THE GREY-BELLIED TRAGOPAN. 



Mr. G. Damant now writes to me : — 



" This bird is found on most of the high ranges in the Naga 

 Hills, notably on the Burrail range, near the villages of Kohima, 

 Khenomah and Mozemah. 



" It is a permanent resident, and does not appear to migrate. 



" It is found on the highest peaks (which attain an altitude of 

 9,000 feet in the Burrail range) and probably never descends to 

 a lower elevation than 5,000 feet. It is said to breed in the 

 month of April, and to lay three or four eggs. 



" During the cold weather it is found at lower elevations than 

 in the rains, as it descends as the mountain springs dry up. 



" It appears to be generally distributed, but is not very 

 common. Two live examples, now in my possession, eat worms 

 and a kind of red berry very greedily. So far as I have 

 observed, it has only one note resembling the syllable ' ak.' 



" The Nagas catch these birds by laying a line of snares 

 across a ravine which they are known to frequent, and then, with 

 a large semi-circle of beaters, driving the birds down to them. 

 They go as quietly as possible so as not to frighten the birds 

 sufficiently to make them take flight, as, if not much alarmed, 

 they prefer running." 



We may conclude that it occurs throughout the higher ranges 

 of the Assamese Hills, south of the Brahmaputra and east- 

 wards of the Burrail range, and it probably extends, both 

 eastwards and southwards of this, far into foreign territory. 



This species in the breeding season, and when fully adult, 

 exhibits the horn-like wattles, and also the pendant gular 

 apron, characteristic of the genus, as one of my specimens shows. 



Mr. Damant informs me that in life one of the males he 

 sent me had horns three-quarters of an inch in length, and of a 

 bright azure blue. 



According to notes furnished to me by Dr. Jerdon, recorded 

 from the type, an apparently adult male, before he skinned it, 

 the chin and upper portion of the throat and the orbital region, 

 which are bare, are yellow, here and there tinged greenish ; the 

 bill greenish horny ; the legs and feet dull yellowish horny ; and 

 the irides pale brown. 



Not improbably these colours may vary according to sex, age, 

 and season ; in the skin of a very fine male both lappets and 

 face appear to have been blue, and the legs and feet were cer- 

 tainly red. 



Dimensions of Adult Males from dried skins. — Length, 2i'o to 

 23*0 ; wings, 10*25 to 1075 ; tarsus, 3*0 to 3*5 ; mid-toe, 2*3 to 

 2'5 ; its claw, straight, 0"8 to 0*9 ; spur, about 0'6 ; bill at front 

 from base of frontal plumes, i*o to i'i ; corneous portion only, 

 o*55 ; from gape, 1*3 to 1*4 ; from end of bare gular skin to tip 

 of lower mandible, 2*3 to 2*9. 



