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Phasianus wallichi, Hardwicke. 



VemaCUlar Names.— [Kahir, Chihir, Nepal j Cheer, Kumaun, Garhwdl, and 

 further west ; Bunchil, Boinchil, Herril, Hills north of Mussooree ; Chummun, 

 Chaman, Cham&a, Kullu, &c] 



ERDON and others following him talk loosely of this 

 species " inhabiting the North-Western Himalayas 

 and extending* into Nepal, where, however, it is not 

 so common as further west" 



It does just occur in the very westernmost por- 

 tions of Nepal, and that is all, while to the North- 

 Western Himalayas, by which I understand Hazara 

 and Kashmir, it does not, I believe, extend at all. 



Its range is very limited. In Nepal it is, I believe, confined to 

 the Hills west of the Dewa. 



It occurs and is plentiful in Kumaun, British Garhwal, Native 

 ditto or Teree, in the Hill Parganas (Jaunsar Bawar,) of the 

 Dehra Dhun district, in Jubal, Taroche and others of these 

 small Hill states, Bussahir, Mandi, Suket, Kullu and Kangra. 

 It is not uncommon about Chamba, in the upper valley of the 

 Ravi, but I can obtain no reliable information of its occur- 

 rence in Kashmir, 



I ought to notice that there are local differences in the colour- 

 ation of the neck, breast, sides, back and rump in the Cheer, 

 precisely analogous to, though doubtless not quite so marked as 

 those which, in the case of the Koklass, have led to the formation 

 of three so-called species. But in the case of the Cheer, perhaps 

 owing to their comparative scarcity in museums in Europe, no 

 one fortunately has contended for the existence of more than 

 one species. 



The Cheer is extremely locally distributed, and seems to me 

 very capricious in its choice of habitations ; on one side of a 

 river you meet with plenty in suitable spots ; on the other side 

 you may search fifty square miles of most likely-looking country 

 and never see one. 



From six to seven thousand feet is the elevation at which, 

 in October, they are most common, but in winter and spring 

 they go lower, and some even breed lower, and in summer they 

 may be met with up to at least ten thousand feet (I myself 

 killed a pair of old ones late in June at fully this elevation), and 



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