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PUCRASIA MACROLOPHA.

Himalayan Pucras Pheasant.

Satyra macrolopha, Less. Dict. Sci. Nat. tom. lix. p. 196.

Phasianus pucrasia, Gray in Griff. An. Kingd. vol. vii. p. 610.—Ib. Ind. Zool. pl. .—Gould’s Century of Birds,
pls. 69, 70.

Pucrasse, Gray in Griff. An. Kingd. vol. viii. p. 26.

Tragopan Duvaucel, Temm. Pl. Col. 545.

Eulophus macrolophus, Less. Comp. Buff. tom. vill. p. 354.

Pucrasia macrolopha, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. p. 503.—Gray, List of Birds in Brit. Mus. Coll.
part iii. p. 31.—Blyth, Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 245.

 

Ir will be seen by the above list of synonyms that this well-known and beautiful species has been honoured
with as many names, both generic and specific, as any other of the Phasianide inhabiting India. Its native
habitat is the central portion of the great Himalayan range, to the eastward of which it is represented by
the Pucrasia Nipalensis, and to the westward by the Pucrasza castanea. I learn from the notes of the late
Hon. F. J. Shore that it is found all over Gurhwall, on ridges from 5500 to 8000 feet high, and that its
native name is Koklas or Fuklas. Major-Gen. Hardwicke procured it on the Almorah Hills, and Dr. William
Jameson states that it inhabits the Himalayas at an elevation of from 1800 to 5000 feet. .

As is the case with the other species of Pheasants, the sexes offer very considerable difference in the
colouring of their plumage, and the young probably resemble the female until after the second moult; but
on this, as indeed upon all other points connected with the habits and economy of the species, nothing has
as yet been recorded.

Forehead, cheeks, throat, and the lower or lengthened part of the crest dark shining green; hinder part
of the head and upper or shorter part of the crest dull sandy buff, the two colours mingling on the occiput ;
on each side of the neck within the green a large oval spot of pure white; lanceolate feathers of the back
and sides of the neck ashy grey at the base, passing into purer grey towards the tip, and each with a narrow
streak of black down the centre; the wing-coverts and flank feathers are very similar, but the streak down
the centre is broader at the base, the ashy grey is of redder hue, and the edges fade almost to white; those
on the lower part of the flanks moreover have pale buffy shafts ; the feathers of the centre of the breast and
abdomen are rich deep chestnut, some few on the sides bemg blackish brown edged with whitish, and others
with the inner web chestnut, and the outer one blackish brown edged with whitish ; feathers of the back
and rump pale ashy grey, fading into whitish on the edge, and with a narrow streak of black down the basal
portion of the shaft, exchanged on the rump and upper tail-coverts into a larger mark divided by a light-
coloured shaft; greater coverts and secondaries blackish brown margined with ashy grey, becoming paler
on the edge; primaries brownish black on their inner webs, and buff on their outer ones and at the tip of
both; tertiaries reddish ash at the base, a streak of deep buff down the centre, and a large spade-shaped
mark of black edged with grey at the tip; central tail-feathers dull chestnut-red, stained with black near
the base and on either side of the shaft; lateral feathers brownish black; the basal half of the external
web rufous, and margined with grey stained with rufous at the tip; vent feathers black, edged with
whitish ; under tail-coverts black, with a streak of chestnut-red down the tip, passing into the whitish fringe
of the extremity ; bill black ; feet horny brown.

The general tint of the female is a pale brown, blotched and freckled with black, the blotches being
largest and most conspicuous on the back, scapularies, and outer webs of the secondaries; each feather of
those parts has also a stripe down the centre, which is of a deep tawny buff on the upper part of the back,
becoming on the coverts and scapularies of a pale or whitish buff; ear-coverts mottled buff and black ; over
the eye a streak of buff, and a broader one from the angle of the mouth; throat buff, bounded on each side
by a series of deeper buff feathers tipped with black, which are continued and spread out both backward

. and forward at the base of the neck; breast deep tawny, mottled with black ; flanks and thighs similar,

with a stripe of buff down the centre of each feather ; under tail-coverts chestnut, blotched with black near,
and a large spot of white at, the tip; tail-coverts and central tail-feathers pale brown, crossed with broad
irregular bands of deep or tawny buff; lateral feathers crossed near the tip with a broad band, which as
well as the inner webs is black ; basal portion of the outer webs chestnut; all conspicuously edged with
white at the tip.

Total length, 22+ inches ; wing, 935 tail, 93; tarsi, 23.

The Plate represents both sexes of the size of life.