Sclater's Monal

Sclater's monal, also called the crestless monal, is a Himalayan pheasant named for the zoologist Philip Lutley Sclater. As in other monals, the male is colourful: the upperparts are highly iridescent purplish green, the crown feathers short, curly and metallic green, the neck copper, the throat purplish black and the back white, with blue orbital skin and a yellowish-orange bill. In the nominate subspecies the tail is white with a broad chestnut band, while in the western Arunachal Pradesh subspecies it is entirely white (Wikipedia, general species account).

Its diet probably consists mainly of tubers, roots, bulbs, arthropods, rodents, seeds and flowers, as in other monals. The female usually lays three to five eggs. It is not known whether the male helps to defend the nest, though it is likely. SoIB 2023 treats it as an eastern Himalayan endemic, rates it a High conservation priority, and gives it a Very Restricted range of about 2,200 km² (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).