THE NEPAL KOKLASS. 1 6/ 



a typical example of the former. True castanea may be 

 equally distinct, but the Western Kashmir specimens, which 

 probably are only verging towards castanea, certainly are not so. 



Nothing is known of the habits of the Nepal Koklass. No Euro- 

 pean has ever shot it or seen it in a wild state. All my specimens 

 I owe to Dr. Scully, who writes thus in regard to them : — 



" In the beginning of 1877 Mr. Hume urged me to procure 

 specimens of the Nepal Koklass, in order that the question 

 of its identity with, or distinctness from, macrolopha might be 

 definitely settled. This proved no easy task, as the bird, 

 though not uncommon in the western portion of the Nepal 

 Himalaya, does not occur in any part of the hills so far to the 

 east as the Valley of Nepal. However, after waiting for some six 

 or seven months, I received the seven birds whose measurements 

 are recorded further on, from Jumla in Western Nepal, through 

 the kindness of my friend General Umber Jung, a nephew of the 

 late Sir Jung Bahadur. Three other specimens were subse- 

 quently seen in confinement in the valley, and these also had 

 been brought from Jumla. 



" Unfortunately I can give no details about the habits of this 

 Pheasant from personal observation ; it is said to be plentiful 

 about Jumla, where it is found not far from the snows. In con- 

 finement the birds become very tame, and seem to prefer green 

 leaves and shoots, &c, to grain for food. 



" There can be no doubt that Pucrasia nipalensis is thorough- 

 ly distinct from P. macrolopha ; the former is a smaller bird, 

 darker and much more richly coloured than the common 

 Koklass. Although Mr. Gould has said all that is necessary on this 

 point, it may be worth while again to draw attention to the 

 characters by which the two species may be at once distinguish- 

 ed. 



" In macrolopha the male bird has the body above the sides 

 of neck and breast and the flanks, light ashy, with a narrow 

 black stripe down the centre of the feathers, including the 

 shaft. In nipalensis the feathers of the corresponding parts are 

 velvet black, narrowly fringed at their margins with grey, 

 while the shafts of the feathers are either white with a line of 

 chestnut on each side, or wholly chestnut." 



" The female of P. nipalensis, besides being smaller and darker 

 than the hen of macrolopha, has the colours much more intense, 

 and with a greater admixture of rufous ; and the tail feathers are 

 nearly all chestnut." 



The following are dimensions, &c, recorded, mostly in the 

 flesh, of this species or race by Dr. Scully : — 



Males. — Length, 23*0 to 25*0? ; expanse, 27-5 to 29*0 ; wing, 

 8*3 to 9*1 ; tail from vent, 9*0 to 10*0 ? ; tarsus, 2*5 to 27 ; bill 

 from gape, 1*2 to 1*4; spur, 0*3 to 0*63 ; crest, 3*5. Weight, lib. 

 15 ozs. to 2 lbs. 2 ozs. 



