TEMMINCK'S TRAGOPAN 209 



with white, but with grey, and that these light spots have not 

 the black borders which so throw up the pearl spangling of the 

 crimson tragopan of India. The spots are also larger in 

 Temminck's tragopan, especially on the under-surface, where 

 as much grey shows as red, the feathers being practically grey 

 with broad red borders. 



The bib, as expanded during courtship, is of apparently the 

 same colour in both tragopans, being blue with a row of scarlet 

 patches down each side ; at least that is what I have noted, 

 having seen each species display. 



I can give no criterion for distinguishing the hen of this 

 bird from that of the Indian crimson tragopan ; but as no two 

 tragopans have been found living together in our borders as 

 yet, the problem of separating these is not likely to arise. 



As it occurs on the Mishmi Hills, the Chinese crimson 

 tragopan was long suspected to be a likely resident in our 

 borders, and this suspicion became certainty in 1903, when Mr. 

 E. C. S. Baker reported to the Bombay Natural History Society 

 on two specimens which had been "shot by Mr. W. Scott, 

 Civil Officer of the Sadon Hill Tracts, on the Panseng Pass at a 

 height of 9,000 feet. Mr. Scott in a forwarding letter described 

 the bird's call as "one single, high note, not unlike a cat's 

 mew." 



It is the south-western and central parts of China that are 

 the best known home of this species, but it appears to be, 

 according to Mr. Baker, very common above 8,000 feet on the 

 Mishmi, Dafla, and Abu Hills ; in Sadya it is found on the high 

 ranges within only a dozen miles of the frontier police posts. 



Pere David, writing of its habits in China, says it is not 

 common anywhere ; it lives alone on bush-covered hills and rarely 

 comes out of its cover, where it feeds on seeds, fruits, and leaves. 

 He says its very sonorous cry can be represented by the 

 syllable oiia twice repeated, whence one of its Chinese names ; 

 the syllable ky means fowl, as in the two other names, Ko 

 or Kiao-ky (horned fowl) or Sin-tsiou-ky (starred fowl). He 

 says it is a much esteemed game bird, all the more so because 

 it is so scarce and can only be captured by a trap or springe. 



In captivity in Europe it is as well known as the Indian 

 14 



