Cassell's book of birds; vol. 3Brehm, Alfred Edmund
Science
Cassell's book of birds; vol. 3
Brehm, Alfred Edmund
Birds
In the Zoological Gardens, London, two specimens were received, one in
1842, and another about 1852, both of which lived there for several years.
THE HIMALAYAN SNOW COCK, OR SNOW PHEASANT.
The HIMALAYAN SNOW COCK, or SNOW PHEASANT (_Tetraogallus Himalayensis_),
is grey upon the top of the head, cheeks, and nape. The feathers on the
back are of a reddish grey, delicately spotted with black, and streaked
with deep reddish brown. The chin, nape, throat, and lower breast are
whitish. The upper breast is greyish white, decorated with crescent-shaped
black spots. The rest of the feathers are grey, sprinkled with brown, and
marked with two brown spots. The sides are paler than the mantle, and the
lower covers almost white; the tarsi are dark grey. The eye is surrounded
by two brown lines, which unite at the sides of the neck. The primary
quills are white, their grey tips spotted with brown. The tail-feathers
are of a reddish shade, spotted with black on the outer and grey on the
inner web. The eye is deep brown, the bare patch behind it yellow, the
beak pale horn-grey, and the foot yellowish red. The male is twenty-nine
inches long, and forty broad; the wing measures thirteen, and the tail
eight inches. The female does not exceed twenty-four inches in length.
"These fine birds," we learn from Hutton, "are common in the Hazara
Mountains, and are called by the Affghans _Kank-i-durra_, or the Partridge
of the Ghâts. They are sometimes sold in the markets of Cabool and
Candahar. They rise," he tells us, "in coveys of from ten to twenty, and
usually have a sentry perched on some neighbouring rock, to give warning
of danger by a low and musical whistle."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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