224 BOMBAY DUCKS 



ditions, but cannot honestly attach its signature to 

 the affirmation. 



The crow-pheasant is not a bird of great beauty. 

 Nevertheless, I think that " Eha" is a little severe on it 

 when he dubs it a great, awkward bird. I myself 

 rather admire its shape, and should have nothing to 

 say against the bird, did not its plumage not partake so 

 much of the nature of patchwork. Its head, body, and 

 tail are black, and its wings chestnut in hue. Black 

 and brown do not form a happy combination. Why 

 the birds of both sexes are thus attired I know not. 

 This is one of the many unsolved problems of animal 

 colouration. 



Were the thing not impossible, one would think 

 that at some beanfeast long ago the crow-pheasant 

 must have imbibed a little too freely, and then, in a 

 moment of maudlin friendship, exchanged wings with 

 some brown bird. For the wings do not match the 

 rest of the plumage, nor are they large enough for the 

 bird, hence its decidedly laboured flight. The smallness 

 of its wings, however, does not worry the coucal, for it 

 does not use those appendages much. It lives in thick 

 cover, although it often ventures out in the open to feed. 

 When alarmed, it flaps up to the nearest tree and then 

 disappears from view in a mysterious way. As a tree- 

 climber there is no other bird of the size which can 

 approach a crow-pheasant. 



It is most amusing to watch him seeking his break- 

 fast, which consists chiefly of insects. The bird picks 

 his food off the ground and hunts by preference in the 

 neighbourhood of water. His walk is best described 



