EUPLOCAJ^ n n GgK I^IELDHI
EliPLOgAMUS HOBSFIELDI.
HORSFIELD’S KALEEGE.
PHASIANUS LATHAMI, Gray,|g| Griff. An. King. vol. ||p l8 2 § |).p . 26. Hybrid.
W L L O È p s Ì s HOKSPIELDI, Gray, Gen of Bird , voi m pA m - ^ k t l ’proo. Zool sM l8 i9 < p"“ 205 '& (1863) p 131, p 10,-Bonap
t C°" p KMld O'850) p 879.^Sdat Woll Z Mil. Sk ;l oh. (1861) 1st Sor pi xxxix.—JeriL B. of India, Tol. iii. p. 535.'
EUPliOGOMUS HORSF1ELDII, Gray, Hand-1. Birds, part ii. (1870) p. 260, no. 9604.
H a b . Hilly regions o f Assam, Sylhet, Tipperah and Chittagong ( J e r d . ) . Bootan (G ray) ! ^ ^
T his fine Kaleege is intermediate in the. colour of its plumage betweenthe E . albocristalus and E . melanotus, having the black crest of
the latter, and the white rump of the former. According to Jerdon it is found in all thè Hilly regions of Assam and the
neighbouring provinces. “ I found it in the Khasia Hills,” 'h e states, “ a t between 3000 and 4000 feet o f elevation. ’ It grades into
the Bunnese G. litieatus,specimens from Arrakan being apparently hybrids between the two species/’ Dr. Sclater, in Wolfs
Zoological Sketches,’ states that “ living examples, of the Purple or Horsfield’s Kaleege were- first received by the Society in the
year 1850, through Captain Nesbitt, who. then commanded the ‘N ile’ in thè Indian fleet of Messrs. Green and Co.; but as males '
wepe pnly obtained at that time, no results followed. In the montlf' iif July 1857. a large § f S o p ; of Indian Gallinaceous birds
•reached the Society. Of Horsfield’s Kaleege there were a single pair. Almost as soon as they were placed in the aviary, eggs were
laid, and, notwithstanding the lateness of the season, nine young, birds were hatched out, and ’successfully reared in the first year.
The whole of these young birds survived the winter, which, from the late period a t which they were hatched, was encountered under
peculiarly disadvantageous circumstances—and thus gave satisfactory proofs of their hardiness, and good grounds for supposing them
well suited to resist the vicissitudes of European weather. These expectations have not been disappointed ; for the Horsfield’s
Kaleege, and its congeners the Black-backed and White-crested Kaleeges, as well as the Cheer and the Impeyan Pheasant, have
continued to breed, under the Society’s care, every season since their arrival.” The Phasianus Lathami, described by Gray in Griffith’s
‘Animal Kingdom,’ is apparently this species, the only discrepancy being that the outer tail-feathers are said to be fringed with
white at the tip, which is never found in Horsfieldi. Therefore I do not adopt Gray’s name, as it is possible h e had a hybrid
upon which he founded his appellation ; for in the same communication he gives other hybrids, known to be such, specific names.
Male. Entire plumage brownish black; tips o f the feathers dark blue in certain lights; giving a rich bluish gloss to the plumage,
Ter
rminal margins o f the rump-feathers white. Primaries brownish bladk. Tail biùish black. Head with a short crest. Skin of
face red. Bill liorn-colour. Legs and feet flesh-colour.
Female.—General colour.dark brown, becoming, reddish brown upon the rump and upper tail-goverts, each feather with a light •'
margin, broadest and lightest on the flanks and underparts. Shafts M ite . Middle tail-feathers reddish brown, finely mottled with
black; rest of feathers black. Head with a long slender crest. Bill horn-colour. Legs and feet flesh-colour. Figures the size
of life.