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THE ARGUS PHEASANTS. 43 
znale within hearing calling, and on the least alarm or excite- 
ment, such as a troop of monkeys passing overhead, they 
call. 
“The call of the female is quite distinct, sounding like 
‘howowoo, how-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 ‘owoos’ run together. Both 
the call of 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, lives 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. 
“The food consists chiefly of fallen fruit, which they swallow 
whole, especially one about the size and colour of a prune, 
which is very abundant in the forests of the south; but they 
also eat ants, slugs, and insects of various kinds. ‘These birds 
all come down to the water to drink, atabout 10 or 11a.m., after 
they have fed, and before they, or at any rate the males, return 
to their parlours.” 
Nest.—Said to be rudely constructed on the ground in some 
dense cane-brake. According to natives, the breeding-season 
continues all the year round, except during the depth of the 
rains. 
Eggs.—Said to be seven or eight in number, white or creamy, 
minutely speckled with reddish-brown like a Turkey’s. Mea- 
surements, 2°6 by 1°9 inches, 
II, GRAY’S ARGUS PHEASANT. ARGUSIANUS GRAYI. 
Argus grayi, Elliot, Ibis, 1865, p. 423; id. Monogr. Phasian. i. 
Ba xvill. ple 12 (1872). 
