256 



THE HORNED PHEASANT. 



Their ii<inal liaiints, pnys " Mountaineer," are high up, not far from 

 the snows, in dense and gloomy forests, where tliey live either ah^ne, or 

 in small scattered parties. lii winter they descend the liills, and then 

 their favorite hannts are in the thickest parts of the forests of oaU, 

 ehestnnt and morenda pine, where the box tree is abnndant, and where 

 nnder the forest trees a Inxnriant growth of" ringalt" or the hill bamboo 

 forms an nnderwood in some places almost impenetrable. They keep 



in corfipanics of from two or three to ten or a dozen or more, not in 

 compact flocks, but scattered widely over a considerable space of forest, 

 so that many at times get rpiite separated and are fonnd alone. Jerdon 

 tells us that if undisturbed, they generally remain pretty close together, 

 and appear to return year after year to the same spot, even though the 

 ground be covered with snow, for they find their living then upon 

 the trees. 



