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Euplocamus horsfieldi, G. R. Gray 



Vernacular Names.— [Do-reek, Dibrugarh; Durug, Dirrik, Gdro Hills 

 Motoora (Khasi), Sylhet ; Mathura, Chittagong.'] 



HE exact western and eastern limits of this species 

 are still somewhat undefined. It is plentiful in 

 Cachar and around the bases of, and up to four 

 thousand feet elevation on, the Khasi and Garo Hills, 

 and thence eastwards in suitable localities right up 

 the Valley of Assam to beyond Sadiya, our eastern- 

 most point, whence I have several specimens. It 

 has been met with in the low outer hills of Eastern Bhutan, and 

 further east in the lower ranges of the Daphla Hills. It is 

 common in Sylhet and also in Hill Tipperah, whence I have 

 specimens, and again in Northern Chittagong, where Sanderson 

 found it plentiful in the Chengree Valley. It very possibly is 

 also found in Southern Chittagong and the extreme north of 

 Aracan, but I cannot find satisfactory evidence of this. 



I do not know of its occurrence in Mymensing or Dacca, 

 and I believe that, from Dhubri to the sea, the Brahmaputra 

 constitutes its western boundary. 



The RANGE of this species is decidedly lower than that of 

 either of the other three ; it is common down in the low 

 country along the edges of cultivation and the banks of 

 rivers where there is forest, only a few hundred feet above sea 

 level, but it grows less plentiful, I am assured, as you ascend 

 the hills, and is very rarely shot at elevations exceeding 4,000 

 feet. 



I have no personal knowledge of the species. Writing from 

 Dilkhusha in North-East Cachar, Mr. Inglis remarks : " These 

 Pheasants are pretty common in this neighbourhood. They 

 affect forest jungle with an open bottom, and are most often met 

 with along the banks of rivers, where they feed morning and 

 evening, retiring into cover during the heat of the day. They 

 only occasionally show themselves on the rice fields adjoining 

 cover. I have seen as many as eight together, although they are 

 more often observed in pairs or singly. Their food consists of 

 wild berries or fruits, beetles and other insects. 



" They afford fair sport with dogs by hunting round the edges 

 of places they frequent. They rise with a loud whirr, emitting 



