The genus Crosssoptilon comprises four distinct ecological species of "Eared Pheasants", so named because of their prominent ear tufts. Among them, White Eared Pheasants (Crossoptilon crossoptilon) are so called because they are white, but not because they have white ears. They are called Shagga, meaning Snow Fowl, by indigenous Himalayan peoples. These gregarious birds live in large flocks, foraging on alpine meadows close to or above the snowline throughout the year. White Eared pheasants tend to fly a great deal more than their close relatives, the brown eared and blue eared pheasants. All three ecological species are obliged to hover or volplane over deep snow. They do this with the aid of their great wide tails. Eared pheasants move across deep snow by whirring their wings and fluttering close to the ground, and supporting their weight on their retrices, leave characteristic if somewhat other worldly appearing tracks. Eared pheasant flight is often described as poor by the hunter collectors of the 18th century who used dogs to beat the birds from the ground for shooting. Eared Pheasants do not waste their energy on flying when quadrupeds take after them because they have adapted many defensive escape behaviors that do not require flight. When one lives with Eared Pheasants in their natural environment or free ranging in snowy environments, one is surprised at their aptitude for sustained flight- movements that only take them a few hundred yards at a time but in the snowy seasons this is significant nonetheless. This ability to cover large areas by flight is reminiscent of Ptarmigans, Sage Grouse and Syrmaticus Pheasants, all of which inhabit snowy regions and are obliged to forage for food by means of sustained flight during winter. Like these species, the White Eared Pheasant lacks a prominent trailing wing notch. Source: Wikipedia