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



" in the opgration of digging and continues at it for hours 

 "together. In the higher forests, large open plots occur quite 

 " free from trees and underwood, and early in the morning, or 

 "towards evening, these maybe seen dotted over with Moonals, 

 "all busily engaged at their favourite occupation." 

 Beebe thus describes a view he obtained of these gorgeous pheasants 

 feeding in one of these open glades : — 



" In the high forests of Garhwal and Kashmir I have watched 

 "these pheasants at their communal feeding places and fomid 

 "every movement full of interest. At about 10,000 feet, in the 

 "still quiet of najd-day, I once came across a level shelf of long 

 " grass shut in by low spruces and deodars. The little glade was 

 some dozen yards across, and part of it appeared to have been 

 recently ploughed. Closer inspection shewed abimdant recent 

 "sign and some stray Impeyan feathers. The birds had evi- 

 " dently been working here for some time and I prepared a blind 

 " a little distance away in a tree, from which I could see almost 

 " all the glade. The following morning a heavy downpour held 

 "steadily until daylight, but the succeedmg night was clear, 

 " and before early dawn, lighted only by the faint greenish glow 

 "from Halley's comet, I made my way from camp along the 

 " summit of the ridge to my station. Here I shivered and shook 

 " with cold for an hour or more until the first few sprmldings of 

 "naorning songs had gro"WTi into a well-filled chorus, with an 

 "accompaniment of the two-phrased, reiterated song of a tiny 

 " green warbler. A Koklass called far down the valley, and ten 

 "minutes later my first Impeyan appeared, stepping quietly 

 " out from the low trees and going at once to the edge of the 

 " glade, where he appeared to be pickmg at the long blades of 

 "grass. 



"For fifteen minutes nothing more happened, and then, for 

 "the space of an hour, Impeyans began to appear singly or in 

 "pairs and once three together. Three other times I had been 

 "grieviously disappointed while in hiding, and now it seemed as 

 " if I was to succeed in my concealment. Fourteen birds, every 

 "one a cock in full adult plumage, were now in sight. Most of 

 "the birds went at once to the diggmgs, and, steppmg down into 

 "the hollows, began industriously to pick the earth away with 

 " strong, sweepmg fiicks of their great shovel mandibles. Some 

 " of the birds were in holes a foot deep, and when working, only 

 "their brilliant backs were in view. They seldom, worked more 

 "than three or four seconds without raising their heads and 

 " giving a swift glance around and especially upward into the 

 "sky, and I imagine that the source of most of their troubles 

 " lies in soaring eagles. There was no fighting but now and 

 "then an undignified scramble for some tuber or other edible 



