MASON AND LEFBOY. 229 



It is also very partial to all kinds of grain from the fields adjoining 

 its cover, needs of the Erythrina and Cucurbitous plants, the young 

 tops of several nsttles and ferns and the fruits of numerous plants 

 especially of the totney (Polygonum molle) and the yellow raspberry 

 (Rubus flavus), two shrubs which yield more bird food in Sikkim 

 than do any other dozen kinds of plants put together." Gammie 

 Colonel Tickell says : " Hill pheasants are sure to be met with ' 

 on mountain paths " picking and scratching about the dung 

 scattered on the road. H. M. G. B. I. I, 192-193. 



1339. G. horsfieldi. -Black-breasted Kalij Pheasant. Inglis 

 * Their food consists of wild berries or fruits, bee ties or other insects. 



Mr. R. A. Clark says : " I once witnessed a fight between a male Kalij 

 and a jungle cock (G. ferrugineus) for the possession of a white-ant 

 hill from which the winged termites were issuing." Mr. Grippe 

 writes : ' ' Their food find consists of berries, grain extracted from the 

 droppings of horses, all kinds of tender shoots, and worms." H. 

 M. G. B. 1. 1, 197-199. 



1340. G. lineatus. Burmese Silver Pheasant. It is almost 

 omnivorous and feeds according to season and locality on all kinds of 

 insects, grain, seeds, small jungle fruits and berries, and certain 

 young leaves, green shoots and flower bads. Captain Fielden : 



' These birds feed a great deal on the young shoots of a kind of 

 Orchis which rather resembles a large Roselle flower, and its juicy 

 leaves enable these pheasants to live for some time far away from 

 water." Mr. Oates remarks : " Their food is very varied. Ants 

 both black and white are eagerly sought after ; the former are an 

 especial weakness of our bird, and the only food on which it thrives 

 in captivity. During the hot weather pheasants eat the fig of 

 the pipal ravenously ; and I have shot birds with nothing but this 

 food in the stomach." Davison notes "Their food consists 

 of grain seeds of various kinds, young leaves and grass, grubs, and 

 H. M. G. B. 1. 1, 205-208. 



1342. Lophophorus refulgens. Monaul. Mr. F. Wilson. ' In 

 autumn they resort to those parts of the forests where the ground 



