Chapter X: Introduction (9)

The members of this Family, which range in size from the {202}splendid Capercaillie (_T. urogallus_) to the small Quail-like _Excalphatoria sinensis_, are all weighty birds for their bulk, rising heavily and noisily, and travelling with low and steady, though often laboured, flight; in many cases the pace is extremely rapid, but comparatively short distances are covered before alighting. On the whole, they are certainly partial to dry localities, which may, however, be prairies and heaths, as in many Grouse, wooded or open country generally, as in Pheasants, or stony hill-sides, as in _Tetraogallus_, _Ammoperdix_, and some species of _Lagopus_ and _Caccabis_; yet a few seem to prefer the vicinity of marshes, and others are constantly met with at considerable elevations. The great facility with which game-birds run, their frequent custom of lying until they are almost trodden upon, and that of combining into coveys or packs consisting of two or more broods, are too well-known to need lengthy description here. The strutting and parading of the cocks of the larger species is fully noticed below, while the habit common to most forms of dusting themselves, instead of washing, is also noticeable. Many are almost entirely terrestrial, a love for trees being in fact exceptional; nevertheless, instances might easily be adduced of roosting on branches or taking refuge there when disturbed, and though _Lagopus_, _Francolinus_, and _Perdix_ are notoriously averse to perching, the writer himself has seen five or six Red Grouse sitting on low trees, within half an hour. _Tetrao_, _Lyrurus_, _Phasianus_, _Pavo_, and _Meleagris_ well exemplify the polygamous habits not unfrequent in the Family, the males in such cases usually deserting their mates during incubation; _Coturnix_ and _Ortyx_, moreover, are stated to be not invariably monogamous. The nest is nearly always on or close to the ground, and is formed of a few twigs, grass, moss, feathers, and leaves; the hole, usually scraped as a commencement, being sometimes barely lined. _Polyplectron_, as a rule, deposits two eggs, but the number in most species is much greater, from sixteen to twenty being not uncommonly found, or even more where two hens lay together–a fairly ordinary practice in the group. The colour in Grouse is yellowish or reddish, either with rufous spots or close blotches of black, purple, or orange-brown; in the Pheasant and Partridge it is uniform olive, and in the Odontophorinae pure white, with or without brown or red markings. Further information is given {203}below. Few Galline birds, besides the American Partridges, breed twice in a season. The male has been observed to incubate in _Ortyx_, and in this genus and _Odontophorus_ domed nests are on record, while many species lay their eggs in depressions under over-arching tufts of heather or grass. Incubation lasts from eighteen to twenty-eight days, the young running almost from the shell. The note is shrill in Guinea-fowls, Partridges, and Quails, somewhat whistling in _Polyplectron_ and _Tetrastes_, and generally consists of two or more syllables; but in view of subsequent details, it is sufficient to particularize the "cok-cok-cok" of the Grouse, the crow of the Pheasant and the Cock, the cluck and cackle of the Hen, the scream of the Peacock, and the gobble of the Turkey. The food is chiefly vegetable, and includes shoots, buds, leaves, grass, bulbs, seeds, berries and other fruits, with a certain amount of grit; but worms, molluscs, ants and their cocoons, insects and their larvae, swell the list. Juniper twigs or berries are supposed to give a flavour to the Hazel Grouse, pine tips to the Capercaillie, whereas the "Sage-brush" of America (_Artemisia tridentata_) bestows its name upon the Sage-cock (_Centrocercus_), and makes its flesh bitter and unpleasant. The Pheasant scratches in the ground for provender, as do Turkeys and Fowls, while _Lophophorus_, _Catreus_, _Crossoptilon_, _Gennaeus_, _Pavo_, and so forth, dig for roots with the bill. American Grouse, after eating _Kalmia_ shoots, are actually poisonous.

Pugnacious habits are prevalent in the Family, and naturally attain their height in the courting season; but chief of all in this connection is the genus _Gallus_, which will fight at any time of year, being highly valued by the boatmen of Burma for the sport it provides. These wanderers commonly keep a cock tied by the leg in their vessels, or possess a decoy-bird to attract its wild relatives. Game-birds are easily naturalized or domesticated owing to their terrestrial habits; they hybridize readily even in a state of nature, the offspring being often fertile; such species, moreover, as the Pheasant, Partridge, and Red-legged Partridge will frequently use a nest in common. Occasionally the female assumes a plumage like that of the male; for example, in the Pheasant, where such individuals are called "Mules," and are stated to be barren. Further questions of great interest are the moult, the Grouse disease, the shedding of the claws in the Ptarmigan, and of the horny fringes of the toes in the {204}Tetraoninae generally, besides such points as the loss of the Peacock's train in summer, and the innumerable phases of plumage of the Red Grouse, Ptarmigan, and "Bob-white" (_Ortyx_), none of which can be usefully discussed in a limited space.

The range of the Family is nearly cosmopolitan; but the Meleagrinae only occur in the United States and Central America; the Numidinae in Africa, with Madagascar and the neighbouring islands; and the Phasianinae in the Palaearctic and Indian Regions as far eastward as the Philippines, China and Japan, and–in the case of _Gallus_–Celebes. The Perdicinae are found in the Palaearctic, Indian and Australian Regions, though becoming decidedly scarce in Oceania; the Odontophorinae occupy temperate and tropical America to Bolivia and Brazil southwards; while the Tetraoninae are holarctic, the New World genera being more numerous than those of the Old World, and _Lagopus_ alone being common to both hemispheres.

Sub-fam. 1. _Numidinae._–Of the curious-looking Guinea-fowls, or Pintados, _Acryllium vulturinum_ of East Africa has a long, wedge-shaped tail, and elongated hackles on the mantle, chest, and lower neck; the upper neck and head being naked and blue, with a crescentic nuchal band of short chestnut feathers, and each metatarsus possessing four or five knobs in the male. The hackles are black and white, mostly fringed with blue; the remaining upper parts and the flanks are black spotted with white, having a purple wash on the latter; the breast and belly are cobalt, marked with black centrally. _Guttera_ contains four black species with light blue spots, which show much white on the secondaries. A full and usually curly black crest adorns the crown; the bare head and neck, with its posterior flap of skin, is blue or purplish, and the throat is red, except in _G. pucherani_ of East Equatorial Africa, where the hind-neck only is blue, and _G. eduardi_ (_verreauxi_) of South Africa, with no bright colours on the head, neck, or throat. The latter, and _G. cristata_ of northern West Africa, have rudimentary blue wattles at the gape, coupled with a black collar, which in _G. eduardi_ extends to the breast and assumes a chestnut shade. _G. plumifera_, ranging from Cape Lopez to Loango, has larger wattles and a thin erect crest; _G. pucherani_ has the outgrowths red. This genus and the next have no spurs. _Numida_, remarkable for the bony casque surmounting the naked head and neck, possesses seven or more members of clumsy build, with {205}white spots on the black plumage. _N. meleagris_ of West Africa and several of its islands, introduced in Ascension and the Greater Antilles, which is the origin of our present domestic stock, has the broad gape-wattles and bare tracts red, save for a blue hind-neck; the small conical helmet is yellowish, and a wide grey ring divides the neck from the body. _N. coronata_ of eastern South Africa, _N. reichenowi_ of East Africa, _N. cornuta_ of western South Africa, _N. marungensis_, found from Benguela to Tanganyika, _N. mitrata_ of East Africa, Madagascar, and the islands in the vicinity, and _N. ptilorhyncha_ of North-East Africa, lack the collar and differ from each other in the shape of the large helmet, which may be upright or inclined backwards. _N. ptilorhyncha_ has the naked parts blue, and a bunch of horn-coloured bristles at the base of the maxilla; _N. coronata_, _N. mitrata_, and _N. reichenowi_ have a reddish casque, a scarlet top to the head, and blue cheeks and neck; the wattles being red in the last, but blue tipped with red in the first two, as in _N. cornuta_, where the helmet is vermilion. _N. marungensis_ has a stouter, shorter helmet than _N. coronata_, which it much resembles. _Agelastes meleagrides_ of West Africa is black vermiculated with whitish, and has a zone of white feathers at the base of the neck; the bare skin of the head is red, of the neck white. The male has a strong spur on each metatarsus, as has _Phasidus niger_, ranging from Cape Lopez to Loango, which is brownish-black with a band of feathers from the base of the bill to the occiput; the naked head is in this case yellow, becoming orange on the neck.

As regards habits, _Numida meleagris_ may represent the group. This wild suspicious bird is found in flocks of a dozen or even a hundred, not invariably of its own species, which frequent thick bushes, tall grass, or rocky river-sides; it runs swiftly and with perfect ease, occasionally travelling twenty miles a day; while, though the short wings and heavy body preclude extended flights, it travels with considerable power. When disturbed it usually seeks the trees, in which it roosts at night, and under which it shelters from the sun. The food consists of grass, seeds, roots, bulbs, berries, and insects, the ground being often torn up in the search; the noisy cry is hoarse and discordant, or sharp and metallic; the nest is a depression with little or no lining, placed in or under a tussock, and contains from twelve to twenty yellowish eggs with undecided {206}rusty spotting. _Phasidus_ is not gregarious. The rock-loving _Numida ptilorhyncha_ attains an altitude of nine thousand feet.

Sub-fam. 2. _Meleagrinae._–Of the Turkeys,[153] there are only two species, _Meleagris gallipavo_ and _M. ocellata_. The former has three races–distinguished by the tail and its upper coverts being tipped with white, buff, and chestnut respectively–the united range extending from Southern Canada to Mexico through the Eastern and South-Western States. They are coppery-bronze, with purplish-green and golden sheen and black markings; the remiges being brown barred with white, and the tail black and brown with broad dark sub-terminal band. The reddish head and neck are nearly bare, shewing wrinkled warty skin and a pendent erectile process on the forehead; a bunch of long black bristles decorates the chest of the male, which has a stout spur on each metatarsus. The bill and feet are red. _M. ocellata_ of Yucatan, British Honduras, and Guatemala, has black plumage, tipped with brassy-green, and fringed with greenish-copper, that becomes redder below; the rump region is steel-blue, and brilliant ocelli of green-blue margined with copper mark the ends of the greyish rectrices and their coverts. The frontal caruncle and the head are blue, with red tip and excrescences respectively, while the pectoral tuft is absent.

The wild Turkey is wary and extremely quick of foot, spending the day chiefly upon the ground and roosting high in the trees; it frequents wooded country, and feeds upon plants, seeds, nuts and other fruits, with lizards and insects. In spring the males fight viciously, and show off before the assembled hens; strutting around with erect, outspread tails and drooping wings, while uttering puffing and gobbling noises. Each cock having secured a mate or two, breeding takes place, after which the sexes separate, but combine again in autumn and wander widely in search of food. A hole, scraped under some log or tuft of herbage, and lined with dry leaves, receives the yellowish-white eggs with red-brown spots; the number varying from ten to eighteen, or even more if several hens co-operate.

Sub-fam. 3. _Phasianinae._–Among these a detailed description is unnecessary of the fine blue, green, and rufous plumage of the Peacock (_Pavo cristatus_), or of the green, purple, copper, and gold ocelli {207}on its elongated train of erectile tail-coverts; but other striking points are the bare-shafted crest and naked white face; while the comparatively dull-coloured Pea-hen lacks the train of the male and the spur on each metatarsus. In the wild state these birds are shy, and run particularly fast, while they occasionally fly in small flocks; they inhabit the hill-forests or ravines near water-courses in India and Ceylon, roosting in large trees, making a slight nest on the ground, ruined buildings, or more rarely branches, and laying from four to about ten yellowish or reddish eggs, sometimes faintly spotted with rufous. The cry is a harsh mewing squeal, or a "cok-cok-cok" when flushed; the food resembles that of the Turkey, but is at times varied by fish or flesh; and, as in that bird, the males are said to dance or strut around when courting, each securing three or four consorts. Peafowl are supposed to indicate the proximity of tigers, and are sacred to various Indian castes, while foolish superstition considers the eyed feathers unlucky! Introduced to England at some very early date, they were formerly thought a great delicacy for the table. _P. nigripennis_, the "Japanned Peacock," is a species, or perhaps variety, with deep blue wing-coverts and other slighter differences, the female being almost entirely greyish-white; _P. muticus_, a valid species from the Indo-Chinese countries and Java, is distinguished by the golden-green neck and chest and the blue and yellow skin of the face; the crest feathers being here fully webbed.

_Argusianus argus_, the Argus Pheasant, has a short black crest; black, rufous, and buff plumage with white barring on the nape and tail-coverts; and enormously developed secondaries and median rectrices, covered respectively with large reddish-yellow and small white ocelli, which are margined with black; the naked cheeks and throat are blue, the bill is bluish-white, the feet are red. It inhabits the forests of the Indo-Malay mainland and Sumatra, the cock being said only to meet the hens occasionally, and to reserve an open spot for courting purposes, where he shows himself off by dancing before them with the tail and secondaries expanded into a large fan. This bird flies little, but runs with celerity, having a loud cry, feeding on vegetable matter and insects, nesting like the Pea-fowl, and laying similar eggs. _A. grayi_ of Borneo shows white on the mantle and much red on the breast, _A. bipunctatus_ is only known from an imperfect primary. The females lack the ocelli and elongated tail. _A._ {208}(_Rheinardtius_) _ocellatus_, of the Tonkin highlands, is brown with reddish markings and minute white dots; it has a hairy occipital crest, and exhibits fine red spots, with black white-eyed central rings, on the very long median rectrices and their upper coverts.

In _Polyplectron_ (Peacock-Pheasant) the male has two or even three spurs on the metatarsus. _P. chinquis_ of the Indo-Chinese countries is brown, with whitish dots above and mottlings below; the head is black and white with naked yellowish sides; the upper plumage is adorned with large, round, metallic, purple-green ocelli, ringed successively with black, brown, and buff, of which the tail and its upper-coverts exhibit one on each web. _P. germaini_ of Cochin China has close-set light brown specks above, and a red face; _P. bicalcaratum_ of the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra has the latter similarly coloured, with black and buff upper surface, a narrow purplish crest, and lateral rectrices with an "eye" only on the outer web; _P. schleiermacheri_ of Borneo has the crest curled forward, and blackish under parts with a white median band; whereas _P. nehrkornae_ of Paláwan, and the doubtfully distinct _P. napoleonis_, are entirely black below. As regards the duller females, _P. chinquis_ and _P. germaini_ have obscure ocelli on both webs of the lateral tail-feathers, the other species on the outer web only; moreover, _P. chinquis_, _P. schleiermacheri_, and _P. nehrkornae_ have none on the tail-coverts, the latter lacking the black blotches on the mantle found in _P. bicalcaratum_ and _P. schleiermacheri_. _P._ (_Chalcurus_) _inocellatus_ of Sumatra is brown and buff, with purple and black tints on the tail. Little is known of the habits, except in _P. chinquis_, which is apparently monogamous, and frequents thick hill-forests up to an altitude of five thousand feet. It feeds like the Peafowl, has a fine whistling call varied by a soft cluck, and will take refuge in trees, though preferring to escape on foot. The cock carries his outspread tail on one side, while the hen uses hers to shelter the young. The fairly substantial nest of twigs and leaves, usually containing two brownish eggs, is placed on the ground.

Of the four species of _Gallus_, _G. ferrugineus_ (_bankiva_), the Red Jungle-fowl–Bhund Moorg of the natives of India–shewing much resemblance to the "Black-breasted Game" breed, is the origin of our domestic stock.[154] It has a vaulted tail with long drooping median feathers, a serrated red comb, naked red face and throat, {209}with a wattle on each side of the latter, a spur on each metatarsus, and ear-lappets, which are whitish in Indian examples, but red in Burmese and Malay. The crown and the hackles of the mantle and rump are orange-red, the back is chiefly purplish-red, and the wings, tail, and under parts are glossy greenish-black, with yellowish outer margins to the primaries and brownish to the secondaries. Between June and September the hackles and long tail plumes are replaced by short black feathers. The hen has little comb, no wattles, spurs, or elongated rectrices; the crown is reddish and the mantle yellowish, both with black stripes; the wing- and tail-quills are brown and rufous; the remaining plumage being reddish-brown, deeper on the fore-neck and brighter on the chest, with black mottling above. This Jungle-fowl ranges from North-Eastern and Central India to Hainan, and from Sumatra to the Philippines, Celebes, and Timor; frequenting thickets and forests up to five thousand feet, but often flocking to cultivated country, where it feeds upon leaves, seeds, insects, and especially grain. Pugnacious towards its kin[155] it is timid with man, running with great speed or taking refuge in trees; the flight consists of alternate periods of flapping and sailing, while the cluck of the hen and the crow of the cock resemble those of domestic fowls, though the latter is less prolonged. The nest is a hole lined with leaves, grass, or plant-stems, containing from seven to twelve buff eggs; polygamy being apparently rare. _G. sonnerati_, the Grey Jungle-fowl of Southern, Central, and Western India, is distinguishable by the dilated shafts of the neck-hackles, with their wax-like yellow tips or spangles; _G. lafayettii_ (_stanleyi_) of Ceylon by the yellow comb with red margin, and the red breast. The former utters a broken crow, the latter a double note, the eggs in both cases being spotted, and occasionally whitish in ground-colour. _G. varius_ of Java, Lombok, and Flores, is greener, with truncated neck-feathers, an unserrated comb, and a single median wattle of red, yellow, and blue-green. The hens of _G. sonnerati_ and _G. lafayettii_ have white breast-plumage, barred and fringed with black, the former shewing black mottlings instead of bars on the secondaries; that of _G. varius_ has a buff breast and a blackish back. In these three species crosses with domestic fowls are said to be usually sterile.

_Chrysolophus pictus_, the brilliant Golden Pheasant, has the {210}crown and full recumbent hair-like crest golden, the fine erectile cape of truncated nape-plumes orange with blue-black bars, the mantle dark green and purple, the rump golden, the primaries brownish, the secondaries purplish with chestnut and black coverts, the larger tail-coverts and the vaulted tail with its two very long median rectrices black, with brown spots or stripes, the scapulars and under parts scarlet, and the cheeks and throat rufous. There are generally two spurs on each metatarsus, and the bare orbits are yellowish. The female is brown, relieved by black and buff, and has a shorter tail, no crest or cape. This bird, difficult to naturalize in Britain, but easily domesticated, inhabits wooded mountains in South and West China and East Tibet, meeting in the last two countries the equally beautiful Lady Amherst's Pheasant (_C. amherstiae_), which has dark green crown, mantle, throat, and chest, blood-red crest, white cape with blue-black bars, black and buff rump, glossy green and brown wings, white breast and abdomen, and black and white tail with scarlet and orange tips to the coverts. The orbits are blue in both sexes, the female being otherwise as in _C. pictus_.

The original Pheasant of Britain–probably introduced by the Romans–was _Phasianus colchicus_, ranging from the Caspian to South-East Europe; but the Ring-necked species (_P. torquatus_) of Manchuria, East Mongolia, Corea, Tsu-sima, and Eastern China, imported towards the end of last century, has interbred with it so freely that typical examples are now exceptional. The latter form has a white collar and slaty lower back with dark green barring; while the former has the rump feathers buff, with black mottlings and purplish-red tips. The females, hardly separable from one another, lack the red face-wattles, the long ear-tufts, and the pair of spurs of the male. The above-mentioned colour of the lower back and the comparatively broad black basal tail-bands, are the distinguishing points of a section, which comprises _P. torquatus_, _P. elegans_ of West China, _P. vlangali_ of Tsaidam, _P. strauchi_ of Kansu, _P. decollatus_ of Western and Central China, _P. satscheunensis_ of Sa-tscheu, _P. formosanus_ of Formosa, and _P. versicolor_ of Japan. Another section, more akin to _P. colchicus_, contains _P. tarimensis_ and _P. zerafshanicus_ of the Tarim and Zerafshan Valleys, _P. persicus_ of Persia and Transcaspia, _P. principalis_ of North-East Persia and North-West Afghanistan, _P. shawi_ of East Turkestan, _P. chrysomelas_ of the Amu-Darya, and {211}_P. mongolicus_, extending from the Syr-Daria to Mongolia. All these races have the crown greenish, and differ chiefly in the colour of the scapulars, breast, rump, and abdomen; a white collar occurring in _P. torquatus_, _P. mongolicus_, _P. satscheunensis_, and _P. formosanus_, while _P. versicolor_ is green below. Where two forms meet hybrids are not uncommon. In _P. soemmerringi_ of Japan, _P. ellioti_ of South-East China, and _P. humiae_ of Manipur and Upper Burma the crown is red-brown, the first species having the lower back maroon with gold reflexions, the two others a black and white rump, with white and chestnut belly respectively. _P. reevesi_ of North and West China has the crown white encircled by black, the nape and throat white with a subjacent black collar, the remaining upper parts yellowish-red and black, with white and rufous on the wings, the breast black, white, and chestnut, the abdomen black, the tail is extremely long.

{212}Space is wanting to describe the various females, or to discuss the sport that Pheasants afford; but the swift flight, the powers of foot, the polygamous and pugnacious habits, the olive-coloured eggs, and the immense numbers reared artificially, must be noticed.[156] _P. reevesi_, Reeves's Pheasant, _P. versicolor_, the Green Pheasant, and _P. soemmerringi_, the Copper Pheasant, have also been introduced into Britain, the two latter and _P. torquatus_ into Oregon, _P. colchicus_ into the Eastern United States; New Zealand has received both _P. colchicus_ and _P. torquatus_, St. Helena and Ascension _P. torquatus_ only–the former island as early as 1513.

_Catreus wallichi_ of the Himalayas has a brown head with fine white-tipped crest; a grey neck, yellowish and whitish upper parts, black and buff primaries, and a rufous rump, all with black barring; the under surface is light buff with black marks, the naked orbits are red. The male has a pair of spurs and very long median rectrices; the female being brown mottled with black and buff, having a smaller crest, a shorter tail, and at times rudimentary spurs. Considerable flocks frequent the grassy forest-hills up to an altitude of eight thousand feet, lying very closely in the day-time, though running with great speed when disturbed, and flying heavily for a short way; they feed towards evening on roots, seeds, berries, grubs, and insects, reiterating the peculiar call, whence they are named Cheer. The slight nest, generally sheltered by a bush or tussock at the base of a hill, contains from nine to fourteen whitish or pale drab eggs, sometimes sparingly spotted with red-brown.

_Pucrasia_ contains six species or local races of "Pukras" or Koklas Pheasants, with long, black, erectile ear-tufts in the male, which has a spur on each metatarsus, but no naked cheeks. _P. macrolopha_ of the Western Himalayas has a well-developed buff crest, a greenish-black head and neck with a white patch on each side of the latter, grey upper parts and whitish flanks with black shaft-stripes, brownish wings marked with buff, chestnut under parts and median feathers of the elongated, wedge-shaped tail, and blackish lateral rectrices with white tips. The black and rufous hen has a white throat, a short crest, and no ear-tufts or spurs. _P. castanea_ of North Afghanistan and Kafiristan has the mantle chestnut, _P. nipalensis_ of the Central Himalayas black varied by grey and reddish; _P. meyeri_ of South Tibet and the {213}Upper Mekong possesses a yellow nuchal collar; _P. darwini_ of East China has grey bases to the outer tail-feathers; _P. xanthospila_ exhibiting both. These monogamous birds attain a somewhat higher elevation than the Cheer, and utter a loud, deep crow; but otherwise the habits are the same. The five to nine pointed eggs are buff, speckled or blotched with red-brown.

_Gennaeus_[157] has a long vaulted tail, a fine crest, naked sides to the face covered with red skin or wattles, and metatarsi with a single spur in the male. In _G. albicristatus_ of the Western Himalayas the crest is white, the head and upper parts being black with purple and blue reflexions and white margins to the dorsal feathers, the primaries and abdomen brown, and the breast whitish. The female is reddish-brown, with delicate black markings on the grey-margined upper feathers, and shews white below and on the wing-coverts. _G. leucomelanus_, with blue-black crest, inhabits Nepal; _G. muthura_ (_melanotus_), without white on the lower back, occurs in Sikkim and Bhutan; _G. horsfieldi_, with black breast, extending from East Bhutan to North Arakan and Upper Burma. All the above species have the tail black, or rarely vermiculated with white; but in _G. lineatus_ of Burma, Siam, and Tenasserim, and the very similar _G. andersoni_ of Upper Burma and West Yunnan, it is banded alternately with black and white, and the median rectrices are even whiter. _G. edwardsi_ inhabits Annam. _G. nycthemerus_, the Silver Pheasant of South China, embroidered as a badge on mandarins' dresses, and introduced into England early in last century, has an extremely long white tail, obliquely marked with black on the lateral feathers, a purplish-black crown, crest and lower surface, white back of the neck and upper parts with crescentic black lines on the latter, and naked red face. _G. swinhoii_ of Formosa is easily distinguished from its allies by the bronzy-crimson scapulars, white crest, upper back, and median rectrices; the remaining plumage being bluish- or purplish-black with a glossy dark green band upon the wing. The female is mottled with rufous, black, and buff, and has a short crest, while that sex of the Silver Pheasant is browner, and exhibits white on the outer tail-feathers. These "Kalleges"–a name strictly applicable to the first four species only–frequent thin forests in low valleys, and are but slightly gregarious; they perch on trees, and {214}fly short distances when flushed; the note is a shrill crow, a whistling chuckle or a "chirrup;" the food is as usual in Pheasants. The pugnacious male is said to strut with outspread tail, and to drum with his wings while courting; the nest, formed of dry herbage in a depression of the soil, contains from nine to fourteen creamy or reddish-buff eggs.

The "Eared" or Snow-Pheasants (_Crossoptilon_) have a vaulted tail with decomposed webs to the long decurved median feathers, fine white ear-tufts, and lax hairy plumage, shorter and curled on the crown. The naked papillose cheeks and the metatarsi are red, with a pair of stout spurs on the latter in the male. _C. tibetanum_ of West China and East Tibet is white, with black crown, dark brown remiges, and greenish- or purplish-black rectrices. _C. leucurum_ of East Tibet has the tail white with blue-black tip, as has _C. manchuricum_ of Manchuria and North China, in which the mantle, nape, and breast are blackish-brown, with a faint white band between the ear-coverts, found also in _C. auritum_ of West China and Koko-Nor, and well defined in _C. harmani_ of Tibet. The last two have the nape, back, and under parts grey-blue. These elegant birds haunt lofty mountain-woods until cold weather comes on; they are comparatively tame, feed on leaves, shoots, roots, fruit, worms, and insects, and lay–at least in the case of _C. manchuricum_–from twelve to sixteen drab eggs. The plumes are worn by Tartar and Chinese warriors.

_Lobiophasis bulweri_ of Borneo is a splendid bird with maroon nuchal collar and chest, brown remiges, white tail, and black plumage elsewhere with blue margins to most of the feathers. The stiff spine-pointed rectrices number twenty-eight in the hen and no less than thirty-two in the cock, the whole tail being compressed and the median plumes decurved; in the male the skin of the naked front of the head is blue, as are two caruncles present behind the ears, two smaller processes on the lores, and two wattles at the gape. The rufous, buff, and black female has only the sides of the face bare, with diminutive lateral wattles on the throat. This species skulks in the jungles, and prefers running to flying, having many of the habits of a fowl, though ranging up to two thousand feet; the eggs are stone-coloured.

The magnificent Firebacks (_Lophura_) have, so far as is known, similar habits to the members of _Gennaeus_, though they are stronger on the wing, and utter mellower notes in their forest retreats; {215}the tail is vaulted, the cheeks exhibit patches of rugose blue skin–red in _L. diardi_–while the male has a pair of spurs and an erect crest with bare-shafted plumes. _L. nobilis_ of Borneo is purplish-blue with fiery chestnut rump-region, golden lower breast, black head, throat, and wings, the four median rectrices being entirely buff and the lateral black with buff markings; _L. vieilloti_ of Siam, the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra has the lower breast black, and the two middle rectrices white, _L. ignita_ of China differing in its chestnut-spotted flanks; _L. diardi_ (_praelata_) of Siam, Cambodia, and Cochin China has a grey and black mantle, neck, and breast, a golden buff lower back, and crimson-tipped rump-feathers. The females have the mantle red-brown or chestnut, and outer rectrices of the latter colour in _L. vieilloti_, but black in _L. nobilis_; in _L. diardi_ the black wing-coverts have wide buff bars. This sex of _L. ignita_ seems to be unknown. _Acomus_ has naked cheeks, but no crest or wattles; the tail is vaulted, and a pair of spurs is found in both sexes. _A. erythrophthalmus_ of the southern Malay Peninsula and Sumatra is chiefly purplish- or bluish-black with fiery golden lower back, rich buff tail, and white wing-markings; _A. pyronotus_ of Borneo exhibits white shaft-stripes on the breast; _A. inornatus_ of West Sumatra, of which the male only has been discovered, has black plumage margined with dark blue-green, therein somewhat resembling the hens of its congeners, which are black glossed with purplish-blue. In habits this genus apparently resembles _Lophura_.

_Lophophorus_ contains four gorgeous species of almost unsurpassable brilliancy, among which the Monal, constantly misnamed the Impeyan Pheasant, is best known. The tail is rounded, each metatarsus is provided with a spur in the male, and bare blue skin surrounds the eye. The Himalayan Monal (_L. refulgens_) has a crest like that of the Peacock, uniform in colour with the purplish-green head; the neck is purple, coppery, and green, the mantle golden-green, the lower back white, and the tail chestnut; the wing- and tail-coverts being green or purple with blue and green reflexions, the under parts black, and the remiges dusky. Its habits differ somewhat from those of other Pheasants, a preference being shown for grassy hill-forests not far from the snow-line; it roosts in trees, though generally found on the ground during the day, and is not very wild, trusting to its speed of foot in open spots, but readily taking to wing in the {216}woodlands. The flight is rapid and powerful, while the male is said to soar without perceptible movement of the pinions; the usual cry is a loud melancholy whistle. The long stout beak serves to dig up roots for food; but grain, fruit, grass, and insect-larvae are also eaten. The nest, or sheltered unlined excavation in the soil, contains from four to six oval cream-coloured eggs, closely spotted or blotched with reddish-brown. The cocks are reported to be non-pugnacious, and the hens semi-gregarious while breeding. _L. impeyanus_ of South Kashmir, the true Impeyan Pheasant, differs in its golden-green lower back and under parts; _L. l'huysi_ of Sze-chuen and Koko-Nor has an ordinary crest, and white spots on the blue, green, and black tail; _L. sclateri_ of North-East Assam has a curly crown with no crest, and white-tipped rectrices; the two latter forms being black beneath and white on the lower back. The slightly-crested females are black, buff, and white; the lower back is black and buff in _L. refulgens_, whitish mottled with brown in _L. sclateri_, and white in _L. l'huysi_.

Of Tragopan (_Ceriornis_) there are five species, remarkable for the fleshy blue horn above each eye and the large gular wattle in the male, who erects the former and inflates the latter when courting. The fore-part of the head and throat are naked or merely hairy, while the crested cock-bird possesses a pair of short spurs, rarely present in his mate. _C. satyrus_, the Horned Pheasant of the Central and Eastern Himalayas, has the crown and throat black, the occiput, neck, and lower parts orange-red with stiff chest-plumes, the back brown, the remiges and rectrices black and buff. Most of the body-feathers exhibit black-margined white spots, and the outer wing-coverts additional red marks; while the wattle is orange barred with blue. _C. melanocephalus_ of the Western Himalayas has a longer crest tipped with red, none of that colour on the occiput, the breast black and red, and a purple wattle with flesh-coloured sides, blue margin and spots. _C. temmincki_ of Central and South-West China has the crest and under parts red, the wattle blue barred marginally with red, and the characteristic spots grey without black rings. _C. blythi_ of North-East Assam and Manipur has the wattle yellow tinged with blue, and a plain grey breast; whereas _C. caboti_ of South-East China has the latter region buff. The hens are black and buff with whitish spots. These shy solitary birds occupy the higher hill-forests, being apparently {217}monogamous, though found in small companies at times; they run slowly, take refuge in trees, and fly with a whirring sound. They roost aloft, but feed constantly upon the ground, eating grubs, insects, roots, flowers, fruits, and especially seeds or herbage; the note is a deep monotonous "bellowing" or "wailing sound." The fleshy excrescences are said to be chiefly developed in the breeding season, when the male, who possibly assists in incubation, struts before his consort like a Turkey. A nest is sometimes formed of twigs, grass, and feathers to contain the seven or eight whitish eggs with dull lilac spots or red freckles. Tragopans are mistakenly termed "Argus" by sportsmen in India.

In _Ithagenes_, or Blood-Pheasant, the bill is short and stout, the tail fairly long and rounded, the plumage soft and acuminate; the orbits are naked and red, and each metatarsus is armed with two or more spurs, generally absent in the female. _I. cruentus_ of the Eastern Himalayas and Tibet has a full buff crest, black forehead and lores, lead-coloured back and wings, brownish remiges and rectrices with white tips to the latter, and a green {218}wash on the wing-coverts and rump. The cheeks, throat, and much of the upper and under tail-coverts are crimson, the breast is yellow-green with crimson streaks. _I. geoffroyi_ of East Tibet and West China has a grey head and throat; _I. sinensis_ of Mongolia and North China is similar, with rufous for green on the wing-coverts. Females are grey, brown, and buff. Found in flocks of twenty or thirty at altitudes between ten and fourteen thousand feet, these bold birds have limited powers of flight, great speed of foot, and a weak cackling note; they bury themselves occasionally in the snow, as do certain Grouse (p. 238), and feed on grass, insects, berries, and shoots of juniper or pine.

If a Sub-family _Perdicinae_ be admitted, it may be commenced[158] with the little known _Ophrysia superciliosa_ of North-West India, a soft-plumaged greyish-brown species with black and white markings on the head; next to which comes _Galloperdix_, the Spur-Fowl, with a large bare eye-space, and two or three spurs on each foot in the male, reduced to a single pair in the female. _G. spadicea_ of India, which has been introduced into Madagascar, has a brown crown, and chestnut plumage elsewhere, with grey margins to the feathers, and black vermiculations on the wing-coverts and rump; the female being mottled with black. _G. lunulata_, another Indian form, has the crown black with white streaks, the breast buff with black spots, and black-ringed white ocelli on the mantle; _G. bicalcarata_ of Ceylon has both mantle and crown black with white stripes, and the breast whiter. These birds frequent thick jungles near the coast, or hills up to seven thousand feet, and are extremely wild, though hard to flush; they resort to trees in emergencies, and roost in them at night; the note is a harsh or plaintive whistle; the food consists of grain, insects, and their larvae. Four, five, or even ten whitish or buff eggs are deposited on a few dry leaves below some sheltering shrub. The cocks are stated to fight as viciously as Jungle-Fowl. _Bambusicola fytchii_, the Bamboo-Partridge, found from North-East India to China, has the crown and ear-coverts red-brown; the upper parts olive-brown, varied in places with black and buff, and longitudinally marked with chestnut, except towards the rump; the wing- and tail-quills reddish mottled with buff; the superciliary stripe, throat, {219}and breast buff, the chest brown with chestnut and white blotches, the flanks spotted with black. _B. thoracica_ of South China and _B. sonorivox_ of Formosa have grey superciliary stripes, and the latter grey ear-coverts. The females only differ from the males in rarely possessing a pair of spurs. These species do not form coveys, but haunt long grass and bamboo-thickets on the hills, being difficult to put up, and uttering screaming noises; they readily challenge their neighbours to fight, roost in trees, and lay from seven to twelve creamy-brown eggs under shelter of a tussock or bush. _Ptilopachys fuscus_ of the northern Ethiopian Region has brown plumage with white margins, and vermiculations or darker barring in many parts, the mid-breast being buff and the naked orbits red. The sexes are similar. Small parties or pairs frequent rocky hill-sides up to nine thousand feet, and are very pugnacious; they carry the tail folded, as do domestic fowls, have a sharp call-note and lay whitish eggs.

In _Excalphatoria_ the short tail of eight soft feathers is entirely hidden by the coverts. _E. sinensis_, the Chinese or Painted Quail, the smallest of the Phasianidae, is brown above with black marking and rufous streaks, a bluish shade appearing in places, and chestnut patches shewing on the wing-coverts; the throat and sides of the neck are black and white, the black forming a central patch below the chin; the remaining lower parts are slate-blue with a median chestnut patch on the breast. It is found from India and Ceylon to Formosa, and in Celebes; a darker race occupying the Philippines, many of the Malay Islands, and Australia. _E. lepida_ of New Britain, New Ireland, and the Duke of York Islands has no chestnut on the wing, and little below; _E. adansoni_, of Africa south of lat. 5° N., is slaty-brown above, and has chestnut scapulars, wing- and tail-coverts with grey shaft-stripes. The females have white throats and rufous breasts barred with black. The Australian form, or Least Swamp-Quail, abounds in marshes, the Indian frequents dry ground as well, the coveys being composed of single broods, which feed mainly upon seeds. The flight is very brief, the nest a mere pad of grass, on which lie five or six olive-drab eggs, scantily spotted with purple or red-brown. _Synoecus australis_, the Swamp-Quail of Australia, Tasmania, and South-East New Guinea, is reddish-brown and grey above, with more or less distinct black mottlings; the throat is whitish, the under {220}surface is buff, with black chevrons in younger birds. The female lacks the grey tints, and is more coarsely barred with black. Gould describes the habits and call as resembling those of the Common Partridge, but they are better exemplified by those of _Excalphatoria_, while the eggs vary from ten to fourteen, and are creamy or greenish-white, generally closely freckled with brown. _S. raalteni_ of Timor and Flores has a rufous throat.

Of the true Quails six species may be admitted. _Coturnix communis_, the Common Quail, though essentially a migrant in the north, ranges throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, and breeds not uncommonly in Britain, having also been introduced into the Eastern United States; while another African race (_C. capensis_ auctt.) only differs in its reddish throat. The crown is dark brown with a light streak down the centre and above each eye; the upper parts are brown and black with buff longitudinal stripes, becoming mottlings on the remiges; the throat is white with a black median patch connected with the ear-coverts by two upcurved lines: the breast is reddish-buff, the abdomen yellowish-white, the flanks are mottled or barred with brown. The short tail of ten or twelve feathers lies entirely below the coverts. The hen-bird has black pectoral spots and a perfectly white throat. _C. japonica_ of East Asia and Japan, occasionally found in Bhutan and Burma, has a plain brick-red throat, the sides of which and the chin exhibit lanceolate feathers in the female. Hybrids between this species and the Common Quail occur where their ranges overlap; individuals, moreover, present great variation. _C. coromandelica_ of India and the Burmese countries, _C. delegorguii_ of the Ethiopian Region, _C. pectoralis_ of Australia and Tasmania, and the nearly extinct _C. novae zealandiae_ of New Zealand, have the outer webs of the primaries uniform brown in both sexes; the males of the first two have the throat as in _C. communis_, with a black patch on the breast, and buff and chestnut under parts respectively; the third has the throat plain brick-coloured; and the fourth still brighter red. The females have no throat-mark, the hen of _C. delegorguii_ being blackish-brown above, and that of _C. pectoralis_ shewing black chest-bands, which in _C. novae zealandiae_ cover most of the feathers. That Quails can traverse long distances is evidenced by the migration of large flocks in spring and autumn; but, as a rule, their flight is short, and they rise with great reluctance, though with considerable {221}velocity. The trisyllabic note of the male is rendered "wet-my-lips" by country-folk; the food consists of seeds, slugs, and insects, sought among the grassy flats in general frequented. From seven to fifteen yellowish or white eggs, with dark brown blotches or marblings, are deposited in a hollow lined with bits of herbage, in standing corn or grass, the hen sitting very closely and feigning lameness to draw attention from the young. The male appears to be usually monogamous, while the broods or "bevies" do not form coveys. Two of these broods are said to be occasionally reared in a season, but how far such statements are due to the destruction of the first complement of eggs must remain doubtful, as in the case of so many other birds that breed on the ground.[159]

_Melanoperdix nigra_, of the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and Sumatra, is glossy black with browner primaries, the female being chestnut, with black markings and a whitish chin. It inhabits the lowlands and lays five eggs. _Rollulus roulroul_ is a most remarkable form with a frontal tuft of long black bristles. In the male the fore-part of the head is black, separated by a white band from the full hairy crest of maroon, which covers the occiput; the upper parts are dark green glossed with blue, the wing-coverts being maroon, and the quills brown and buff. The tail and under parts are black, a blue tint shewing on the breast; the base of the black bill, the feet, and the naked orbits are scarlet. The female has a blackish head with moderate crest, a grass-green body with chestnut wing-coverts edged with maroon, and a black bill. These birds inhabit the dense forests of the Malay Peninsula, Tenasserim, Siam, Borneo, Sumatra, and Java, up to an altitude of a few thousand feet; they hunt in small parties for seeds, berries, and insects, are very shy, quick of movement and hard to flush, and utter a mellow whistle. _Caloperdix oculea_ of similar range to _Rollulus_–unless we separate _C. borneensis_ with more chestnut throat–has the crown, neck, and under parts rufous-chestnut, the back and tail black with crescentic white anterior and reddish posterior markings, the wing-coverts brown with round black spots, the quills brown and buff, the face and throat buff, a white supra-aural stripe, and black flanks with whitish bars. The male is only distinguished by possessing a pair or two of spurs. This bird haunts dense uninhabited forests, and eats insects, seeds, and berries. _Haematortyx {222}sanguiniceps_, of the mountain-forests of Northern Borneo, is brownish-black; the slightly-crested head, the throat, upper breast and under tail-coverts being crimson with black tips to the last-named, and the metatarsi possessing three pairs of spurs. The rump-feathers have partly expanded shafts. The female has the throat rufous, the upper breast deep chestnut, and no spurs. _Arboricola_ contains nearly twenty species with almost naked throats, ranging from Northern India to the Indo-Chinese countries, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Formosa. The following may be taken as examples of this genus, the sexes being usually alike. _A. torqueola_ of the Himalayas has a chestnut crown, red, black, and white nape, olive and black upper parts, varied with chestnut and buff on the wings, black cheeks, throat, fore-neck, and superciliary stripe, a white line down the sides of the throat, a white band surmounting the grey breast, and grey flanks with chestnut and white markings. In the female the crown is brown and black, the throat, cheeks, and so forth, rufous with black spots, the chest-band rusty-red. _A. ardens_ of Hainan, of which the male only is known, is easily recognised by the peculiar shining orange-scarlet patch of stiff hair-like feathers on the fore-neck. _A. javanica_ of Java has the head rufous with brownish crown, a black band surrounding the eyes and crossing the occiput, another encircling the base of the neck, joined to the former by a black line down the rust-coloured nape, and a third running from the throat to the sides of the neck. The upper parts are dark grey barred with black, the wings exhibiting chestnut and olive tints; the chest is grey; the remaining lower parts are chestnut. _A. chloropus_ of Lower Burma and Cochin China has the crown and nape brown, the superciliary stripe, throat, and lores black and white, the fore-neck buff with black spots and margin, the upper parts and chest brown and black with rufous on the wings and rump-region, the breast red, the abdomen, sides, and black-barred flanks buff. In this genus the orbital and even the gular skin is crimson or purplish, the feet are commonly red, the bill rarely so. The various species form coveys, which frequent grassy hill-jungles and wooded ravines up to more than ten thousand feet; they are usually unsuspicious, and run before an intruder, but occasionally perch in trees, and fly rapidly when forced to rise; the single whistling note is loud but mellow; the food consists of leaves, roots, berries, seeds, grubs, and molluscs; the four white eggs, {223}sometimes speckled with grey, are deposited with little or no nest, at the foot of a tree, or under a tussock among thin scrub.

_Microperdix_ and _Perdicula_, the Bush Quails of Anglo-Indians, have a blunt tubercle on each foot in the male. _M. erythrorhyncha_ of South and West India has the crown and cheeks black; a white frontal band continued down the sides of the head; brown upper parts, with round buff black-centred spots on the back, and black and buff markings on the wings and tail; a white throat bordered by black; and a grey-brown chest and rufous breast, with black spots on the former and the flanks. The bill and feet are red. In the female the crown is brown, the throat and cheeks being rufous. _M. blewitti_ of Central India is only slightly different; but _M. manipurensis_ of Manipur has a chestnut throat, becoming grey in the hen. These active Quail-like little birds haunt the lower mountain-thickets up to perhaps eight thousand feet, forming small coveys, feeding on seeds and insects, and fashioning a slight nest under some sort of cover, to contain from ten to fourteen pointed creamy-brown eggs. _Perdicula asiatica_ of India and Ceylon is brown above, with wavy black dorsal barring, and black and buff markings on the wings and tail; the superciliary stripes and throat are chestnut with whitish margins; the under parts white with black bars; the feet red. The female is uniform buff below. _P. argoondah_ of India has dull brick-red in place of the chestnut, and a whitish throat in the hen. It has been introduced into Mauritius. The habits are much as in _Microperdix_, but the nest is sometimes more elaborate, and the reddish-white or olive-coloured eggs, with possibly a few faint spots, number from five to seven. _Margaroperdix madagascariensis_ of Madagascar, imported into Mauritius and Réunion, has a black head with reddish-brown sides to the crown, a white stripe from above each eye running laterally down the neck, two others from the gape down the margin of the throat, rufous and black upper parts, with buff bars upon the wings and rump-region, and white shaft-streaks except upon the quills. The red-brown chest and black under surface are both margined with grey, and the latter is spotted with white; the flanks are chestnut, black, and white. It is called "Tro-tro," "Timpoy," or "Tsipoy" by the Malagasy, and inhabits grassy hills, flying rapidly for short distances, and laying from about fifteen to twenty eggs. Natives say that if {224}you break these eggs you cause the death of your father, if you spare them that of your mother![160]