Tetraogallus himalayensis

The dark-bellied snow chicken is grey-brown or gray-white from the top of its head to the back of its neck. There is a white spot on the side of the neck. Its upper and lower edges are surrounded by a circle of maroon lines, and are connected to the maroon lines between the throat and upper chest; the upper body is earthy. Brown, densely covered with dark brown beetle-like spots; there are also large white spots on the tan wings; the central tail feathers are light brown, and the outer tail feathers are maroon, mixed with dark brown beetle-like spots; the lower chest and abdomen are dark Gray with brick red or maroon rough lines, this is the most obvious difference between it and the Tibetan Snow Chicken.
Size measurements: body weight ♂2049-3100g, ♀2000-2570g; body length ♂515-595mm, ♀538mm; bill peak ♂24.8-35.2mm, ♀24.2mm; wings ♂260-300mm, ♀264mm ; Tail ♂185-194 mm, ♀167 mm; tarsometatarsus ♂59-67.6 mm, ♀59.5 mm.
The weight of newborn chicks is 49.0-56.1 grams, which is equiva

Distributed in Afghanistan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Introduced: United States.
Distributed in China, in Xinjiang Altai, Bukesail, Tacheng, Toli, Wenquan, Bole, Huocheng, Zhaosu, Wensu, Kashgar, and Hotan; in the Qaidam Basin of Qinghai, Delingha, Dulan, the western part of the Qilian Mountains and the mountains to the south (Danghe Nanshan, Hamel Mountain, Kukunor Ridge, Bulbuda Mountain and the mountains to the south of Qinghai Lake); in the Ali region of Tibet, Ritu and Geze; in the northwest of Gansu, Zhangye, Wuwei, Jiuquan, Tianzhu, Sunan, Subei, Aksai, Luqu, Maqu and other places, all are resident birds.
It mainly inhabits high mountains and subalpine rocky tundra grasslands and bare rock areas at an altitude of more than 2,500 meters to about 5,000 meters, almost close to the snow line, and in winter it can drop to the upper shrubs and forest edge areas of the tree line at about 2,000 meters or even 1

The Himalayan Snowcock is divided into five subspecies. The nominate subspecies has the darkest color of feathers, the southern Xinjiang subspecies has the lightest color, and the Qinghai subspecies has a color between the above two subspecies.

Dark-bellied snowcocks like to gather in groups, often forming small groups of more than 10 to more than 20, and sometimes even forming large groups of more than 30. They are active during the day, and the daily activity time is relatively long. They usually start to move at dawn and stop until dark. They are most active in the early morning and dusk and on sunny days. They rarely move and sing on rainy days. The legs are short and strong, good at running, and rarely fly. The activity time is closely related to the length of sunshine. The total sunshine hours for daily activities are 10-14 hours, and the foraging time is about 8 hours. There are two peaks of daytime activities, namely morning and dusk. The activities start at dawn in the east, mainly foraging in relatively open areas. Foraging all day throughout April. After May, they forage all day on cloudy and light snowy days. They are inactive at noon when the weather is clear, and roost in the cool place of rocks. They stop moving before dark in the afternoon. They are inactive on windy, snowy or rainy days. During the foraging process, the male and female keep a certain distance, the male bird is high and the female bird is low, so the male bird is always the first to be discovered.

The dark-bellied snowcock moves in groups during the non-breeding season, and pairs up and lives separately during the breeding season. After the breeding season, the parent birds lead the chicks to form a group. In late autumn and early winter, several such groups are combined, sometimes up to 20-30, usually around 10, and as few as 3-5. The biological significance of the cluster is to defend against enemies. If a bird in the group first finds a raptor or a person, it will send a signal, and the whole flock will immediately escape. This is very important for snow chickens that forage in areas with a relatively wide field of vision.

The dark-bellied snow chicken mainly feeds on plant food. In spring, it mainly feeds on fescue, cinquefoil and wild onion. In summer and autumn, it mainly feeds on thorn beans and fescue. In winter, it mainly feeds on fescue. It feeds on a wide variety of plants in its habitat throughout the year, including fescue, bluegrass, pearl buds, dandelions, mosses, goldenrod, violets, short-flowered needlegrass, Viola yedoensis, and camel hair. It also eats some insects such as locusts and beetles. They often stay with ungulates, looking for food in their trampled areas or feces. The male calls to the female: "ge, ge, ge..."; the calls to each other after being startled are "ger-u, ger-u, ger-u..."; the calls when frightened are: "gua...gua...gua..."; the calls to call young chicks: gululu...gululu...; the calls when finding enemies are "jiu...,jiu...-,jiu...".

The dark-bellied snowcocks hibernate in groups on sunny slopes in winter. They start to separate and pair up in April of the following year, and the breeding ends at the end of July, which lasts more than 100 days. After pairing, some of them still stay in the sunny slopes. After occupying a territory, the male bird often stands with its legs slightly wider than its body, squatting with its abdomen almost touching the ground, its wings slightly spread out, its tail feathers lifted up in a fan-like shape, revealing its white undertail coverts, which swell in a ball shape and swing left and right constantly, showing off its courtship. The territory of the male bird may be the same as its nesting range. Because the territory is vast, the male bird often stands on a relatively prominent rock or mountain top in the territory, making a high-pitched and leisurely "Ge...er, Ge...er, Ge...er, Ge...er" call. In addition to attracting female birds and showing off the territory, this clear call plays an important role in protecting the territory and warning female birds that are laying or incubating eggs. The dark-bellied snowcock is monogamous during a breeding season. Once paired, they will never separate. Although it is monogamous, the male bird does not exclude the second female bird from entering its territory, but its mate does not allow it and will ruthlessly expel the intruder from their territory.

After the dark-bellied snowcock mates and occupies a territory, the female bird will choose a nesting site in the territory. There are four types of nesting habitats for the dark-bellied snowcock, namely, bare rock on sunny slopes, alpine meadows on sunny slopes, forest grasslands on shady slopes (very rare), and the upper part of sunny slope mountain grasslands. The nesting microenvironment is a relatively flat ground next to rocks, and there are shrubs such as Caragana, Fruticosa and Artemisia frigida in front of the nest. The nest is quite simple and disc-shaped. It is built in a natural pit or a shallow pit dug with claws, and is padded with a few dead branches, grass stems and its own belly feathers. The average outer diameter of the nest is 28.50 (24-33) cm × 25.57 (21-30) cm, the inner diameter is 22.43 (20-28) cm × 21.29 (17-24) cm, the nest is 9.43 (6-16) cm high, the nest is 6.57 (4-12) cm deep, and the inner padding is 2.86 (2-4) cm thick.

The male bird's courtship posture is positive, in front of or beside the female bird, with its wings drooping and touching the ground, its tail feathers on the upper wings, spread out like a fan, the white undertail coverts spread out like a white pompom, the chest with black spots and feathers puffed up, the head slightly tilted back, and the wings fluttered to approach the female bird or circle around the female bird. The female bird has no reaction to the male bird's performance and pecks as usual. After the male bird performs for a while, it pecks the female bird's head with its mouth a few times. The female bird crouches, and the male bird quickly steps on the female bird's back from the side and rear, and holds the female bird's head with its mouth, presses down its tail, and the female bird's tail feathers curl up, accepting mating. The whole mating takes about 7-10 seconds. During the breeding season, multiple matings can be carried out, with the mating peak at 6:00-8:30 in the morning and 18:30-20:00 in the afternoon. Egg laying begins in late April and ends in late June, lasting about 2 months, with the egg laying peak in May. Each nest lays about 4-8 eggs, with an average of 6.3 eggs per nest. The eggs are light ochre, slightly green, with light green inner shells, with brown or brown spots, small and more at the tip, large and less at the blunt end, and some eggs also have block spots.

The dark-bellied snowcock enters the incubation period in early May, and the female bird is responsible for incubating the eggs. During the entire incubation period, the female bird stays on the top of a mountain or a relatively protruding rock where the nest can be seen 30-100m away from the nest, and from time to time makes a high-pitched and leisurely "ge...er, ge...er, ge...er" call. When there is an alarm, it flies away from the nest while making "gua..., gua..., gua..." calls, as if to lead the dangerous object to another place.

The female bird is very nest-loving during the incubation period and rarely leaves the nest. Generally, it only feeds once during the day, mostly between 9:00-10:00 in the morning, and the feeding time is 30-50 minutes. After leaving the nest, it generally does not fly, but quickly runs to the vicinity of the male bird. The female bird forages for food, and the male bird is on guard. The foraging range is generally on the hillside or mountaintop within 100 meters from the nest. When the female bird is incubating, it lies tightly on the eggs, shrinks its neck, and looks forward motionlessly. Even if pedestrians walk to the nest and do not watch, the female bird does not leave the nest, because the nest is mostly located behind dense bushes, the light is dim, and its body color is similar to the surrounding environment, so it is difficult to be found. Only when people consciously watch it, it suddenly leaves the nest and flies away, and quickly gathers with the male bird.

After the chicks hatch, the eggshells are abandoned in the nest without being removed. Once the feathers are dry and can stand and walk, they abandon the nest and follow the parents to find food. The chicks are centered around the female bird, sometimes gathering and sometimes dispersing, and they find food by themselves or with the help of the parents. The male bird always plays a protective role. When in danger, the male bird first sends out a warning signal, and then both parents flap their wings, pretending to make noises, and fly a short distance in an injured state to attract danger. The chicks immediately burrow into cracks in rocks, under clods of soil or at the base of bushes and lie still. Even if people approach them, they will not move and are extremely difficult to find. The parents fly away. After confirming that the danger is over, the parents return to their original place and call out "gululu..., gululu..., gululu..." The chicks respond with "diliuliu..., diliuliu..., diliuliu..." and gather together again. Before nightfall, the female bird chooses a rock that is sheltered from the wind and places the chicks under her wings for the night, with the male bird guarding by her side. Sometimes several female birds gather in sparse groups, only a few meters apart from each other. If a female bird dies, its chicks will mix with other chicks. The male bird does not take care of the chicks, and the chicks live with the parents until the next breeding season, when they reach sexual maturity.

The incubation period is the most dangerous and difficult period for the dark-bellied snowcock. The ground nest is vulnerable to natural enemies. The harsh and changeable mountain climate makes them spend a long time nesting, which is very difficult. The female bird uses its own protective color to reduce the danger to a minimum, but it cannot avoid the harm of natural enemies. The main known natural enemies are big-billed crows, golden eagles, weasels, foxes, etc. Big-billed crows mainly steal snowcock eggs. If there is a chance, they can peck the eggs in the entire nest at once and eat all the contents, even well-developed chicks. Due to the large number of big-billed crows in the forest area, the harm is relatively serious. Golden eagles mainly hunt adults, sub-adults and chicks, tear them into pieces after hunting, and swallow them with hair and bones.

It is listed as a rare species in the bird volume of the "Red List of Endangered Animals in China". It is generally believed that the population is already at a fairly low level.

Listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2018 ver 3.1-Least Concern (LC).

Listed in China's National List of Key Protected Wildlife (February 5, 2021) Level 2.

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