BLOOD-PHEASANTS 
4i7 
Blood-Pheasants. 
appearance than its Indian allies, having the plumage of the head, neck, back, and 
under-parts black and white, the rest of the upper-parts dark chestnut, ornamented 
on the wing-coverts with white black-edged spots, and the quills and tail black. 
The female has the head blackish, the chin and throat white, and the rest of the 
plumage chestnut, finely pencilled with black. Colonel Legge observes that “ the 
shy habits of this bird would prevent its being detected in most places where it is 
even abundant, were it not for its noisy cries or cackling, so well known to all 
who have wandered in the Ceylon jungles. It frequents tangled brakes, thickets 
in damp nalas, forest near rivers, jungle over hillsides, and in fact any kind of 
cover which will afford it entire concealment. It runs with great speed, and has 
a knack of noiselessly beating a retreat at one time, while at another it ventriloquises 
its exciting notes until the sportsman becomes fairly exasperated, and gives up the 
attempt he has made to stalk it in disgust. The cock-birds begin to call about six 
in the morning, and when one has fairly commenced, the curious ascending scale 
of notes is taken up from one to another until the wood resounds with their cries. 
They always seem to keep in small parties, which perhaps consist of the young of 
the year with their parents.” The nest, a mere hollow in the ground, is situated 
in the forest, or in thick jungle, under the shelter of a rock or near the projecting 
root of a large tree, and it would seem that the full number of the eggs laid is 
four, but the red spur-fowl (Galloperdix spadiceus ) lays as many as ten. 
The pheasant-quail (Ophrysia superciliosa), occurring in the 
north-west of India during the cold season, is probably a native of 
Tibet, but is so rarely met with that scarcely anything is known of its habits. 
Never coming into the open, it prefers to skulk in the long grass, whence it can 
only be flushed with the help of dogs; and when on the wing its flight is slow and 
heavy. This is the smallest of the pheasant kind, being no larger than the 
common quail, but its affinities are with the blood-pheasants, as is shown by 
the shape of the wing with its short first primary, the length of the tail, and the 
long rather loose plumage. The male has the general colour grey washed with 
olive, each feather being edged with black, and the head and throat deep black, the 
former marked with various white bands. The female has the general colour 
warm light brown, paler 011 the under-parts, and spotted and marked with black, 
while the chin and throat are whitish. The much larger blood-pheasants are 
represented by three species from Tibet and Western China; the males being 
characterised by the peculiar grass-green colour of the plumage. The blood- 
pheasant (Ithagenes cruentus ) found in the higher regions of Nipal, Sikliim, and 
Bhutan is a handsome bird, the male having the forehead and a ring round the 
eye black, the crown buff, and the upper-parts grey, washed on the wings with 
green, and margined on the upper tail-coverts and tail with crimson; the cheeks, 
throat, and under tail-coverts being crimson; and the rest of the under-parts 
mostly green, with some of the feathers more or less margined with crimson. The 
naked skin round the eye and the legs are bright coral-red, the latter being some¬ 
times armed with no less than four pairs of spurs. The female is mostly brown, 
lighter on the upper-parts, and reddish below, while the back of the head and nape 
are slaty grey. Found at elevations ranging from ten thousand to fourteen 
thousand feet, these birds are abundant in many of the valleys among forests of 
vol. iv.—27 
