October 20, 1923] 



NA TURE 



575 



are devoted ; twenty-seven exquisite , photogravure 

 plates depict their haunts, nesting sites, courtship 

 and dancing' places ; while a series of maps illustrate 

 the geographical distribution of all the forms. 



Regarding the two species of Thaumalea, the golden 

 and Amhersts' pheasants, though both have long been 

 familiar in captivity or in a semi-domesticated state, 

 yet little or nothing was known of them in their native 

 haunts. This is well illustrated by the case of the 

 former bird. Although this beautiful species has been 

 kept in captivity for centuries (even prior to 1747 in 

 England) yet in a wild state probably no other pheasant 

 was so absolutely unknown to naturalists. Mr. Beebe, 

 however, succeeded in penetrating the bird's exceed- 

 ingly remote retreats and gives a graphic account of 

 its home-life in the deep rugged mountain forests of 

 Central China. Here he witnessed its wonderful court- 

 ship, in which the gorgeous ruff of the male plays an 

 important part, but all his endeavours, however, to 

 find its nest were unavailing, and it still remains to 

 be discovered. The same great difficulties were 

 experienced in the search for the Amhersts' pheasant. 

 For many days the bird remained but a phantom, 

 until at last a glimpse of " its royal self " was pre- 

 sented in its remarkably fine home in the forests on 

 the frontier of Yunnan and Burma, where it haunted 

 the steep sides of lofty valleys traversed by rushing 

 torrents. Here the author saw the cocks in all their 

 glory of ruff and body-plumage, and beautiful beyond 

 description. Apart from the pleasure of recording 

 their actions, Mr. Beebe was not able to add much 

 to the little already known, and failed to find a nest. 



From discussing the typical pheasants the author 

 proceeds to treat of those of the Argus group (Argus- 

 ianinse), commencing with the bronze-tailed peacock 

 pheasant (Chalurus). This genus includes two species 

 which are confined to the Malay States and Sumatra 

 respectively. Both are rare in their native haunts 

 and in collections, and have never been kept in captivity. 

 Practically nothing was known of their life-histories 

 prior to the author's investigations. The Malayan 

 species (C. inopinatus) — " a true bird of the wildness " 

 — inhabits the dense jungles of the central mountains 

 of the Peninsula. Hitherto the knowledge of this 

 species has been derived from skins, and many days 

 passed after Mr. Beebe reached its haunts, which 

 ranged from humid dark ravines to summit ridges 

 where warmth and brilliance prevailed, ere he was 

 able to catch even a glimpse of the bird. Eventually 

 he came across a party from which he secured a speci- 

 men, and was shown a nesting site on the side of a 

 rocky defile. The Sumatra species (C. chalurus) is 

 an inhabitant of the interior of that great island, 

 where no white man has seen it alive. 



NO. 2816, VOL. I 12] 



The peacock pheasants (Polyplectron) are ornamented 

 with many gorgeous metallic eye-spots, which are 

 most developed in the male and are displayed by 

 him during courtship. Mr. Beebe found the grey- 

 backed species {P. bicalcaratum bicalcaratum) occurring 

 singly or in small families among the mountains of 

 Burma and Western China, where they are shielded 

 by terrible growths of thorn cane. They seldom fly, 

 but skulk through the jungle in the day-time and 

 roost on trees at night. Once the haunts were dis- 

 covered they were found to be not very uncommon, 

 and their courtship, one of the most remarkable among 

 birds, was seen to commence with a lateral display, 

 although the climax was reached in a wonderful frontal 

 performance in which every ornament of the male's 

 plumage was brought to bear to influence the little 

 female. The Malay species {P. malaccensis) is a native 

 of lowland jungle where it is well guarded by a myriad 

 tropical terrors which rise at every foot to dispute 

 advance into its domain. It proved to be the most 

 difficult of the Malay pheasants to locate. Day after 

 day the search had to be given up, and it was only 

 when Mr. Beebe resorted to tracking by himself alone 

 that success came, and even then he had to fight his 

 way and suffer much for even a brief peep of these 

 splendid birds. At last, however, in a land of dreadful 

 silence, leeches, sand-flies and mosquitoes, he found 

 the objects of his search in fair numbers. The Bornean 

 species (P. schleiermacheri) is a native of the hilly 

 jungle near the centre of the island. Of this species 

 the author was only able to obtain a handful of feathers 

 from a bird trapped by a Dyak, nor could he learn 

 anything trustworthy about this pheasant from the 

 natives, who are well versed in all the other species. 

 Hence he concludes that it must be exclusively un- 

 common. Of the three other species of this genus, 

 P. katsumatce, P. napoleonis, and P. bicalcaratum 

 germaini, he was unable to visit the haunts in the 

 Islands of Hainan and Palawan and in Cochin China 

 and Siam, but he gives accounts of their histories so 

 far as they are known. 



The ocellated pheasants (Rheinardius) are large 

 birds as strange in appearance as they are rare and 

 mysterious in life. Their general characters unite 

 them closely with the Argus pheasants, but they are 

 much less specialised. Like them they have the 

 remarkable habit of clearing small tracts in forests 

 as arenas for their displays. Two forms are known. 

 The Annam species {R. ocellatus), a magnificent bird, 

 has a singular history, for its identity was founded 

 on several feathers, from an unknown source, dis- 

 covered in the Paris Museum prior to 1856 ; but it 

 remained undescribed, and it was not until 1882 that 

 a specimen procured by Commander Rheinart set 



