PHASIANIDAE 



217 



monogamous, though found in small companies at times ; they 

 run slowly, take refuge in trees, and fly with a whirring sound. 

 They roost aloft, but feed constantly upon the ground, eating 

 grubs, insects, roots, flowers, fruits, and especially seeds or 

 herbage ; the note is a deep monotonous " bellowing " or " wailing 

 sound." The fleshy excrescences are said to be chiefly developed in 

 the breeding season, when the male, who possibly assists in 

 incubation, struts before his consort like a Turkey. A nest is 





Fig. 47. Cabot's Tragopan. Ceriornis caboti. 



f;fi'' 



(From Nature.) 



sometimes formed of twigs, grass, and feathers to contain the 

 seven or eight whitish eggs with dull lilac spots or red freckles. 

 Tragopans are mistakenly termed " Argus " by sportsmen in India. 

 In Ithagenes, or Blood-Pheasant, the bill is short and stout, 

 the tail fairly long and rounded, the plumage soft and acuminate ; 

 the orbits are naked and red, and each metatarsus is armed with 

 two or more spurs, generally absent in the female. /. cruentus 

 of the Eastern Himalayas and Tibet has a full buff crest, black 

 forehead and lores, lead -coloured back and wings, brownish 

 remiges and rectrices with white tips to the latter, and a green 



