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



to be found. From the West bank of the Bhagirathi River they 

 extend North and West through Kashmir to Hazara. From the 

 latter country a friend writes : 



"Hume was quite right in saying that the Tragopan 



occurs here, but they are very rare or else ver}^ hard to 



get at, for I have only seen and shot one, a gorgeous male 



sunning himself on a high rock, and which I potted without 



compunction." 



Nidification. — The first, and for many years the onl}^, recorded 



account of this bird's nesting is that of Capt. Lautour, as quoted 



by Hume ; — 



"I was shooting on a range of hills from 8,000 to 11,000 

 feet high. The Argus in parts very plentiful, the hills covered 

 with pine-forests, and the Argus I used to find about one- 

 fourth of the height of the hills from the top, and they appear- 

 ed to affect the vicinity and edges of snow nullahs and land- 

 slips, where there was a fair quantity of undergrowth, and 

 where there were plent)^ of rocks. 



" At the time of finding the nest, I was on the look-out 

 for Pheasants, but the ground being rather stiff, I had just 

 given up my gun to the shikari, when the bird got up almost at 

 my feet. I was going through a pine-forest, and had reached 

 a place where an avalanche or landslip had carried Q,wa,y all the 

 pine-trees, and in their place small bushes and shrubs, resem- 

 bling the hazel, had sprung up. The nest was on the ground, 

 and was very roughly formed of grass, small sticks and a few 

 feathers ; it was very carelessly built." 

 The next nest about which I have any definite des^.ription was 

 taken by Mr. F. L. Hughes on the 3rd of June, 1908, West of 

 the Makhan Nallah, Ghamba. He writes me : — 



" I do not know exactly what the elevation was, but I 

 should say just about i:>,000 feet. The nest was placed on a 

 slanting tree, about 10 feet from the ground, in a hollow, 

 where a large branch had been torn off by some storm. It 

 was about a foot in diameter and was composed of a few 

 sticks and grass, the lining^ being entirel}^ of this material, 

 and contained three eggs, just showing faint signs of incu- 

 bation. The tree on which the nest was placed was a wild 

 cherry, and was on a steep khud, about 100 feet or so above 

 a stream. The slope was well wooded with the ordinary local 

 trees, chestnut, wild cherrjr, etc. There was not much under- 

 growth what there was consisting of elder, as far as I can 

 remember. 



" The bird was very shy, and never gave us more than a 

 glimpse, gliding off the nest long before we coiild get close 

 up to it, however quietly we approached." 



