THE KALI J PHEASANTS. 26 1 



suddenly increasing loudly and excitedly. Generally speaking, 

 when uttering this cry, which at times might be mistaken by 

 anyone unacquainted with it, for that of some small bird, the 

 Kalij is alarmed by a prowling Marten or Hawk hovering over- 

 head, perhaps a dog, but still oftener it is heard when a pair 

 of cocks are about to engage in mortal combat. 



" Not unfrequently a cunning old cock, instead of taking wing 

 at once when the dog is close upon him, has a provoking 

 habit, most irritating to both dog and master, of flying up into 

 a tree, making a prodigious clucking the while, and at the same 

 time taking a look round to see if the coast is clear. The bird 

 in this manner often observes where the gun is posted, and then 

 takes wing in a safe direction. 



"The Kalij Pheasant, when alarmed, will generally fly down 

 the Khad, and will often take along the side of the hill. 

 Though it will run, yet it will hardly ever fly up hill. Its 

 speed when well on the wing is amazing, greater frequently, I 

 am certain, that any rocketer out of an English cover. When 

 not bullied by the hill-men, they will come close up to the 

 backs of villages, especially if there are fields of corn at hand. 

 I have shot them out of standing crops when the fields are situ- 

 ated near the jungle." 



Referring to the whirring sound they make most commonly, 

 but not exclusively, in the breeding-season, he says : 



" We had been sitting motionless for, I suppose, half an hour, 

 when I was startled, all of a sudden, by the loud drumming 

 noise I have already described, close at hand. The sound 

 came from behind, and on looking over my shoulder, my 

 companion with a smile pointed out the drummer. An old 

 cock Kalij was squatting on the stump of a fallen tree, and with 

 its feathers all ruffled and tail spread, was causing this extra- 

 ordinary sound by rapidly beating its wings against its body." 



Nest. — Generally placed on the ground under a rock or bush 

 and composed of a few dead leaves and grass. 



