2 1 84 THE GAME BIRDS AND RAILS 



noiselessly beating a retreat at one time, while at another it ventriloquizes its excit- 

 ing notes until the sportsman becomes fairly exasperated, and gives up the attempt 

 he has made to stalk it in disgust. The cock birds begin to call about six in the 

 morning, and when one has fairly commenced, the curious ascending scale of notes 

 is taken up from one to another until the wood resounds with their cries. They 

 always seem to keep in small parties, which perhaps consist of the young of the 

 year with their parents." The nest, a mere hollow in the ground, is situated in the 

 forest, or in thick jungle, under the shelter of a rock or near the projecting root of 

 a large tree, and it would seem that the full number of the eggs laid is four, but the 

 red spur fowl {Galloperdix spadiceus} lays as many as ten. 



The pheasant quail (Ophrysia superciliosa), occurring in the north- 

 west of India during the cold season, is probably a native of Tibet, 

 Pheasants 



but is so rarely met with that scarcely anything is known of its habits. 



Never coming into the open, it prefers to skulk in the long grass, whence it can 

 only be flushed with the help of dogs, and when on the wing its flight is slow and 

 heavy. This is the smallest of the pheasant kind, being no larger than the 

 common quail, but its affinities are with the blood pheasants, as is shown by 

 the shape of the wing with its short first primary, the length of the tail, and the 

 long rather-loose plumage. The male has the general color gray washed wdth 

 olive, each feather being edged with black, and the head and throat deep black, the 

 former marked with various white bands. The female has the general color 

 warm light brown, paler on the under parts, and spotted and marked with black, 

 while the chin and throat are whitish. The much larger blood pheasants are 

 represented by three species from Tibet and Western China, the males being 

 characterized by the peculiar grass-green color of the plumage. The blood 

 pheasant (Ithagenes cruentus) found in the higher regions of Nipal, Sikkim, and 

 Bhutan is a handsome bird, the male having the forehead and a ring round the 

 eye black, the crown buff, and the upper parts gray, washed on the wings with 

 green, and margined on the upper tail coverts and tail with crimson, the cheeks, 

 throat, and under tail coverts being crimson, and the rest of the under parts 

 mostly green, with some of the feathers more or less margined with crimson. The 

 naked skin round the eye and the legs are bright coral red, the latter being some- 

 times armed with no less than four pairs of spurs. The female is mostly brown, 

 lighter on the upper parts, and reddish below, while the back of the head and nape 

 are slaty gray. Found at elevations ranging from ten thousand to fourteen 

 thousand feet, these birds are abundant in many of the valleys among forests of 

 pine and juniper. They seldom or never crow, but emit a weak, cackling noise. 

 When put up, they take a short flight, and then run to shelter. During September 

 flocks of ten to fifteen may be seen, males and females in almost equal proportions, 

 and in December packs of seventy to one hundred birds collect. 



The tragopans or horned pheasants, so often misnamed Argus 



pheasants, include five large and magnificent species, unsurpassed for 



beauty and the harmony of their tints by any other members of the group. The 



males are provided with a pair of erectile, fleshy, blue horns inserted on each side 



of the crown above the eyes, and during the breeding season the throat is covered 



