Argus-Pheasants. 289 



sounding like Wiow-oivoo, how-oivoo,^ the 

 last syllable much prolonged, repeated ten 

 or a dozen times, but getting more and 

 more rapid until it ends in a series of 

 owods run together. Both the call of 

 the male and female can be heard to an 

 immense distance, that of the former 

 especially, which can be heard at the 

 distance of a mile or more. Both sexes 

 have also a note of alarm, a short sharp 

 hoarse bark. 



" The female, like the male, hves quite 

 solitarily, but she has no cleared space, 

 and wanders about the forest apparently 

 without any fixed residence. The birds 

 never live in pairs, the female only 

 visiting the male in his parlour for a 

 short time. 



" I was unable to find the nest, but 

 from what I could learn, the female builds 

 a rude nest on the ground in some dense 

 cane brake, laying seven or eight eggs, 

 white or creamy, minutely speckled with 

 brown like a turkey's, and hatching and 

 rearing her brood without any assistance 

 from the male. They are said to have 

 no regular breeding season, the females 

 laying at all times except during the 

 depths of the rains." 



It is impossible to describe the plumage 



19 



