THE (iAME lillWS OF INDIA. ;!31 



" ill what a short time the little birds make themselves invisi- 

 " ble. It is (litiieult to secure more than two birds out of one 

 "batch. It is a case of poiincing" on them at once or losing 

 "them, 'i'he mother is a great coward, running away at the 

 " slightest alarm, and thus contrasting very unfavourably 

 " with the Jiingle Fowl which keeps running round and round 

 " the intnider with great anxiety until the young ones are in 

 " safety." 

 (retii'ml Hahifs. — The prevailing colouration of this Pheasant 

 gives an excellent clue to its haunts and the general chai'acter of 

 the country it inhabits. It is not to be found in the humid, ever- 

 green forests beloved by the Black-Backed Kalij which finds 

 concealment in their black depths as deep in shade as its own 

 sombre plumage. Nor on the other hand must it be looked for in 

 the high open grasslands frec{uented by the whiter forms of the 

 Chinese Silver Pheasants whose pure w^hiteness find no gi'eat 

 contrast in the sunlit grasses round them. As might be expected, 

 the Burmese Silver Pheasant, with its dark silver npper plumage, 

 will be found either in thin deciduous forest or in bamboo jungle. 

 Here the glare of the tropical sunlight is filtered and broken by 

 the intervening branches into thousands of specks or spots, bold 

 bars and dashes of alternate light and shade of gleaming white, grey, 

 or black. In such places with every passing breath of air the whole 

 medly quivers and melts into an ill-defined greyness much like that 

 on the back of the bird itself. 



Davison, writing of the true Uneaius from the neighbourhood of 

 Moulmein, says : — 



" They come continually into the open to feed about rice- 

 '• fields and clearings. They are shy, and usually run in 

 " preference to flying wdien disturbed, except when put up by 

 "a dog, when they immediately perch. Captain Bingham tells 

 " me that on bright moonlight nights they constantly come out 

 "into the clearings. Their food consists of grain, seeds of 

 " various kinds, young leaves and grass, grubs and insects." 



"They seem to prefer bamboo, or moderately thin tree 

 "jungle to dense forest." 

 Gates' description does not agree well with the above in all 

 respects, as he writes of it as a rather tame bird avei-se, however, 

 "to all cultivation, even to the extent of shiuiningthe yaks 

 " or hill gardens of the Karens, though these may be some 

 " miles from the nearest tay or village." 

 He writes of this Pheasant's favourite haunts as follows : — 



" It is rare or common jiist in proportion as the country is 

 '■ level or mountainous. In the plains or undulating country 

 " of Upper Pegii it will be met within small numbei's if the 

 " ravines and nallas are sufficiently precipitous to suit its tastes ; 



