ore snow has fallen.

At a distance the blood-pheasant appears a dowdy bird. The hen is quite
insignificant, but, on a closer acquaintance, the cock shows a delicate
colour-scheme of mauve, pink, and green, which is quite different from
the plumage of any other bird I have seen. The skins fetch a good price
at home, as fishermen find them useful for making flies. A sportsman
who has shot in the Yatung Valley regularly for four years tells me that
the cock-bird of this species is very much more numerous than the hen.
Another Chumbi pheasant is the tracopan, a smaller bird than the minal,
and very beautifully marked. I have not heard of a tracopan being shot
this season; the bird is not at all common anywhere on this side of the
Himalayas.

Snow-partridge sometimes come down to the Lingmathang hills; in the
adjacent Kongbu Valley they are plentiful. These birds are gregarious,
and are found among the large, loose boulders on the hill-tops. In
appearance they are a cross between the British grouse and the
red-legged partridge, having red feet and legs uncovered with feathers,
and a red bill and chocolate breast. The feathers of the back and rump
are white, with broad, defined bars of rich black.

Another common bird is the snow-pigeon. Large flocks of them may be seen
circling about the valley anywhere between Phari and Chumbi. Sometimes,
when we are sitting in our cave after dinner, we hear the tweek of
solitary snipe flying overhead, but we have never flushed any. Every
morning before breakfast I stroll along the river bank with a gun, and
often put up a stray duck. I have frequently seen goosanders on the
river, but not more than two or three in a party. They never leave the
Himalayas. The only migratory duck I have observed are the common teal
and Brahminy or ruddy sheldrake, and these only in pairs. The latter,
though despised on the plains, are quite edible up here. I discredit the
statement that they feed on carrion, as I have never seen one near the
carcasses of the dead transport animals that are only too plentiful in
the valley just now. After comparing notes with other sportsmen, I
conclude that the Ammo Chu Valley is not a regular route for migratory
duck. The odd teal that I shot in February were probably loiterers that
were not strong enough to join in the flight southwards.

Near Lingmathang I shot the ibis bill (_Ibidorhynchus Struthersi_), a
bird which is allied to the oyster catchers. This was the firs