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. 



(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 



