170 INDIAN SPORTING BIEDS 



are no doubt summoned by this ; then* own call is, according 

 to Davison, "like how-owoo, bow-owoo, the last syllable 

 much prolonged, repeated ten or a dozen times, but getting 

 more and more rapid until it ends in a series of owoo's run 

 together." Both sexes have a bark-like alarm note, and their 

 calls above described can be heard a long vi^ay, the male's as 

 much as a mile. Even the two sexes in this bird do not associate 

 constantly, and the hens not only have no regular home, but the 

 breeding-season varies, though eggs are not to be found in the 

 depth of the rains. The eggs are rather like turkeys' eggs, and 

 seven or eight form the clutch. The chicks fledge as rapidly 

 as those of the tragopans, so often miscalled '' argus." 



The present bird, which ranges to Sumatra, is rather of 

 interest to the naturalist than the sportsman, but the plumage 

 of the cock — at any rate the eyed feathers of the wings — is much 

 used for the plume trade. This use, of course, needs regulating, 

 and the killing of the bird ought to be absolutely prohibited, 

 though it might be permitted to snare it in such a way as not 

 to injure it, and release it after cutting" off a two-foot length of 

 the eye-bearing plumes, which could well be spared. 



Crested Argus. 



Bheinardtius ocellatiis. 



As a local race of this magnificent bird, previously only 

 known from Tonquin, has of late been found to occur at Pahang 

 in the Malay Peninsula, it may claim brief notice here. It is 

 a bird of general speckled-brown coloration, like the true argus, 

 and the hens are not unlike, except that that of the crested 

 species has a strong bushy crest at the back of the head like her 

 mate ; the head is also more feathered in both sexes. The cock 

 has ordinary-sized wings without eye-spots, but a most ex- 

 travagant tail, several feet long, with broad but tapering feathers 

 marked with brown eye-spots with white centres ; a single one of 

 these feathers would easily identify him. 



