GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 35
and readily taking wing. The cock varies a good
deal in colour, black, white and pied varieties, and
others with the copper on the neck replaced by
steei-blue having been recorded. The last-named
'has been described as a distinct species under the
name of Lophophorus mantoui.
The Bronze-backed Monaul.
Lophophorus "impeyanus, Faun. Brit. Ind.,
Birds, Vol. JV, p. 97.
The male of this species resembles the last in
•size and form, but differs in having the lowei back
bronze and purple instead of white, and the under-
parts glossed with green instead of being jet black.
The hen is not known, and only a very few of the
other sex have been obtained, all in Chamba,
south-east of Kashmir.
It seems, from an account by Major G. S.
Rodon, in the Journal of the Bombay Natural
History Society, that the native shikaries of the
locality say that this form is merely a '' sport' *
from the common Monaul, which likewise occurs
there. Considering the proneness of 'the common
species to variation, and the unlikelihood of two
species of pheasants, differing only in colour, re-
maining distinct in the same district, I am strongly
inclined to think that their account is correct, and
that the Bronze-backed Monaul, like the Black-
winged Peacock, is not a true species, though
•excellently exemplifying a variation from which a
•species may arise. The subject is one which would
well repay investigation, and I hope that anyone
who may be living in Chamba will look out for a