U JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVI. 



confinement by the natives. Easy to tame and easy to feed, it 

 thrives even when kept in a comparatively small enclosure, but it 

 has not yet been induced to breed. 



Like the Kalij Pheasants, this bird is a haunter of thick jungle, 

 generall}'^ evergreen, with dense undergrowth, less often bamboo or 

 secondary growth in abandoned cultivation. 



It is nearly half a century since the much-quoted account of this 

 bird's habits was written by Davison yet since then pi-actically not 

 one scrap of information has been added to our knowledge or, at 

 all events, recorded anywhere. Siam and the Malay Peninsula 

 are now exceptionally well off for good scientific and field natura- 

 lists, and il is to be hoped that before long they will supply the 

 deficiency. 



Davison writes : — 



" These birds frequent the thick evergreen forests in small 

 " parties of five or six ; usually there is only one male in the 

 ♦' party, the rest being females, but on one or two occasions 

 " I have seen two males together ; sometimes the males are 

 " found quite alone. I have never heard the males crow, nor 

 " do 1 think that they ever do so ; when alarmed, both males 

 " and females have a peculiar sharp note, exceedingly like 

 " that of the large Black-Backed Squirrel (Sciiirus hicolor). 

 " Tlie males also continually make a whirring sound with 

 " their winffs, which can be very well imitated by twirling 

 " rapidly between the hands a small stick, in a cleft of which 

 " a piece of stiff cloth has been transversely placed, I have 

 " often discovered the whereabouts of a flock by hearing this 

 " noise. They never come into the open, but confine them- 

 " selves to the forests, feeding on berries, tender leaves, and 

 " insects and grubs of all kinds, and they are very fond of 

 " scratching about after the manner of domestic poultry, and 

 " dusting themselves. When disturbed, they run rapidly 

 "away, not ui different directions, but all keeping much 

 " together ; they rise at once before a dog, getting up vv^ith a 

 " great flutter, but when once well on the wing, fly with a 

 " strong and rapid flight ; they seldom alight again under a 

 " couple of hundred yards, and usually on the ground, when 

 *' they immediately start running. 



" I noticed on one occasion a very curious thing. I had 

 "stalked an Argus, and while waiting to obtain a good 

 "shot, I heard the pt^culiar note, a sort of chulun, chukun, 

 " followed by the whirring noise made by the male Fire- Back, 

 " and immediately after saw^ a fine male Fire-Back run into 

 " the open space, and begin to chase the Argus round and 

 " round its clearing. The Argus seemed loath to quit its own 

 " domain, and yet not willing to fight, but at last, being 



