334 JOURNAL, BOMB A Y NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVI. 



few brief glimpses they escaped observation ajnd none were brought 

 to bag. 



Unfortunately the expedition, a very small one, were in rather a 

 tight corner and it was impossible to follow up the birds to any 

 distance from camp, but the sentries on duty in the one special spot 

 reported that the birds returned there with the greatest regularity 

 morning and evening, and could be heard scratching about and 

 feeding in the undergrowth like a flock of barn-door fowls. 



The Abors say that they are birds of the highest elevations, being 

 foimd all the year through close to the snows or actually beyond the 

 snow-line. Certainly the few birds brought in whilst I was in Assam 

 all came from some distance within the hill ranges and it was only 

 in the severest winters they came down to 7 or 8,000 feet. Normally, 

 if what we were told was true, they very seldom come below 9,000 

 feet and in summer frequent the ranges at 12,000 to 15,000 feet. 



The Mishmis say that they are " fool-birds " and very easy to 

 trap, and that they are very good to eat. 



Beebe, one of the few white men who have seen this pheasant, 

 describes his meeting with it in the following words: — ■ 



" I had hardly crept five yards from the place of my ugly 

 adventure when two feathers caught my eye and straight way 

 I forgot my fears. They were from the plumage of no silver 

 pheasant, but brilliant, irridescent, changeable green and purple. 

 I was at a loss to know from what gallinaceous bird they had 

 come. A little way further I found another. Later while 

 worming my way through a barking deer's tunnel at the root 

 of a perfect tangle of bamboo, I heard the subdued chuckles 

 and the rustling of leaves ahead. A few feet brought me to a 

 deeply worn but steep sambhur trail, along which I made my 

 way on hands and knees, without making a sound. 

 " The rustling of leaves, md the spray of earthen pellets 

 falling down, came more dxstinctly to my ears, and at last I 

 rested for many minutes with my face buried in a clump of 

 blue, sweet-scented pea-flowers. 



" Inch by inch I then edged myself upward, digging with 

 fingers and toes into every deepened hoof-rut. A shower of 

 earth fell upon me and with joy I saw that a clump of soft- 

 leaved mint-like plants lay before me. I did not have to 

 increase my numerous wounds by a slow penetration of either 

 nettles or briers. 



" The revelation came sooner than I expected. Noiselessly 

 plucking away leaves and stems one by one to form a low 

 tunnel I pushed slowly and cautiously ahead. 

 Then the forms of one or two birds appeared, and with a 

 screen of leaves still intervening I watched what was probably 

 the first wild Sclater's Impeyan ever seen by a white man. 



