104 CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



like the memories of joy that are past, a lament for the 

 destruction of the grass among which last year's dome- 

 shaped nests were hidden. The swamp pheasant also utters 

 a contented, self-complacent chuckle, that resembles the 

 " Goo ! goo ! goo ! " of a happy infant, and occasionally 

 a succession of grating, discordant, mocking sounds, 

 " Tcharn ! tcharn ! tcharn ! " The chuckle may be an 

 expression as if gloating over the detection and assimila- 

 tion of some favourite dainty, and the harsh notes a demon- 

 stration of rivalry, anger and hostility. The more familiar 

 and more frequent note is the " Toom," repeated about 

 fourteen or sixteen times, and the thinner, softer 

 response. 



The bird resembles in plumage a pheasant. Cumber- 

 some and slow of flight, clumsy in alighting, he frequently 

 loses his equilibrium, and is compelled to use his long tail as 

 a counter-balance, as he jumps from branch to branch 

 ascending a tree, in order to gain elevation, whence to 

 swoop and flop across the intervening space to the next. 

 When compelled to take wing from a low elevation, the 

 flight is slow and laboured in the extreme. He is a hand- 

 some fellow, the ruling colours being glossy black, brown 

 and reddish chestnut. One writer describes the bird as 

 half hawk, half pheasant, another as a non-parasitic cuckoo ; 

 another " really a cuckoo " ; another a swamp or tree parrot 

 with the foot of a lark. Without daring to attempt to 

 dispute any of these descriptions, I may say that the bird 

 is a decided character and possesses the charm of originality. 

 He has become so confiding that he will perch on the gate- 

 post as one enters, assuming a fierce and resentful aspect, 

 and he will play " hawk " to the startled fowls. He eats the 

 eggs of other birds and kills chicks ; but his murderous 

 instincts are rarely exhibited, and then only, perhaps, when 

 his passions are aroused. He does not (as far as my 

 observation goes) kill for food, but merely because Nature 

 gives him at certain times and seasons a fiery, jealous 

 disposition, and a truculent determination to protect his 

 family. 



