THE HORNED THEASANTS. 223 



damp morning air, and then — well there is no trace of the 

 Tragopan ! I protest that this is an exact account of the only 

 good chance I ever had at one of these birds on the calling 

 'lay.' 



" Alas ! ' the merry days when we were young ! ' I was 

 soaking wet, my legs were perfect porcupines of spear-grass 

 (we had crossed a low valley), and leeches innumerable were 

 feasting on my miserable self, but I said, and thought, that it 

 was splendid sport ! 



'' The most characteristic points about these Tragopans are 

 the fleshy horns of the males and their gular lappet, which 

 latter, during the breeding-season, especially when the birds 

 are excited by passion, extends downwards several inches, but, 

 during the winter, it is barely traceable. 



" The horns, too, though erected when courting, are greatly 

 diminished in size during the winter, and even during the 

 breeding-season are, except at moments of excitement, con- 

 cealed amongst the crest-feathers." 



Captain Beavan, writing from Sikhim, says: "The winter 

 months, when the underwood is not so dense as at other sea- 

 sons, are the only period of the year at which even the natives 

 can get at them. The usual plan of capture is by making a 

 hedge of bushes about three feet high, extending down the 

 sides of a hill, like the sides of a triangle, with the base open. 

 The sides are made to gradually converge until near the apex, 

 where small gaps are left, in each of which a noose is placed. 

 The birds are then slowly driven by men on foot walking in 

 line from and parallel to the base of the triangle and towards 

 its apex ; and the birds, continuing to run instead of resorting 

 to flight, dash through the openings and are caught in the 

 nooses. A curious fact with regard to this mode of capture is, 

 that the proportion of males to fem.iles is generally four or five 

 of the former to one of the latter." 



Speaking of this species Colonel Tickell tells us : " When 

 a fine cock bird shoots into the air, his inexpressibly rich 



