THE XOyAVL, OR UIPEYAX PHEASAXT. 135 



wing, it generally flies a long way, and, if much alarmed, crosses over to a parallel ridge. Occasionally, 

 however, it will settle on the low limb of a tree at no great distance ; and once there, it is, like many 

 other gallinaceous birds, easy of access. Sometimes, when approached in open spots, it walks off or 

 begins to move, stopping often and eyeing the intruder, till suddenly, and without apparent immediate 

 cause, it will rise with a startling flapping or flutter of the wings, scattering the dead leaves in a 

 sluower around, and fly headlong into the wood with a succession of short piercing shrieking whistles, 

 which appear to act as a warning to some distant companions ; for their calls are often heard in reply. 

 When feeding quietly and in security the Monaul has a sweet mellow call, a long plaintive note which 

 it utters from time to time, especially of a morning and after sunset. It has the same melancholy 

 effect on the ear as the creaking whistle of the Curlew, winging his way along the mud-flats as evening 

 settles over the lonely shore. The Monaul breeds towards the end of spring. The courtship is carried 

 on in the chestnut and large timber forests before the birds ascend (during the summer heats) towards 

 the regions of perpetual snow. It is generally near the upper limits of these forests, where the trees 

 are dwarfed and sparingly scattered, that the hen lays and incubates three to five eggs, in a depression 

 on the ground. Whether any nest is made, Dr. Jerdon did not know, but ' Mountaineer ' says the 

 female makes one 'under a small overhanging bush or tuft of grass.' The eggs are of a dull cream or 

 pale buff colour, sprinkled with reddish-brown. Like most gallinaceotts birds, the Monaul may be said 

 to be omnivorous. ' Mountaineer ' says it will not touch wheat and barley, but those kept in confine- 

 ment ate rice and grain readily, as well as insects, worms, maggots, flesh, lizards, fish, eggs, tire. It 

 is a diligent digger, and the slightly expanded tip of the mandible acts like a hoe or shovel. I had 

 several of these birds in an aviary at Mullye in Sirhoot. They were strong and vigorous as long as 

 the cold weather lasted, and soon became tame, unlike the red Pheasants (Ceriornis) purchased at the 

 same time from the Botias passing through the station, which never lost their original wildness, 

 and began to droop about April ; whereas the Monauls did not succumb to the atmosphere of the 

 plains till June, when the rains had set in. Unlike the smaller hill Pheasants, they were not 

 pugnacious. 



" If shipped off early in the cold weather from Calcutta, these birds could easily enough be trans- 

 ported to England, where the temperature would suit them, if there were any means of giving them 

 shelter during the extreme severity of winter, or of procuring for them in that season a proper substi- 

 tute for the insect food which never fails them on the lower elevations of the Himalaya. If they could 

 become as thoroughly acclimatised as the common Pheasant, they would indeed be a superb ornament to 

 our parks and plantations, though perhaps no great acquisition to the table. It is many years since I 

 tasted the Monaul, and speaking from memory, the flavour appeared to me much the same as that of 

 the Peafowl, the breast being tender and palatable in the young birds, but no part being fit for anything 

 but soup in old specimens. The Monaul has bred in England both in the Zoological Gardens of London 

 and in the possession of the Earl of Derby, where the female is said to have laid on one occasion 

 thirteen or fourteen eggs." 



The Monaul is a splendidly-plumaged species, having on the head a crest of metallic-green plumes 

 like those forming the crown of a Peacock ; the neck is purple, shot with green, and in some lights 

 with golden copper ; middle of the back white ; wings black, the coverts, like the back, glossed with 

 purple and green ; rump and upper tail-coverts leather more purple ; tail cinnamon ; underneath black.,, 

 the throat glossed with green and purple ; naked skin round the eye blue ; bill dark horn-colour ; legs 

 dull ashy green ; eye brown. The length of the bird is about two feet and a half, and as in most of 

 the Pheasants, the hen is much plainer in colour, being brown, varied with black spots and bars; 

 upper tail-coverts white at the end, as also the tip of the tail ; chin and throat white. 



The true Pheasants (Phasianus), to which the English species belongs, are widely spread over 

 the Palajarctic region, and reach their highest development as regards number of species in 

 Central Asia and China, where numeixms kinds of true Pheasant are found, all of them more or 

 less like the English bird in appearance. One of the most familiar is the Chinese Ring-necked 

 Pheasant, which is often crossed with the English bird : indeed, this cross-breeding has been carried 

 to such an extent in Great Britain that thoroughly pure-bred birds are becoming rarer and 

 rarer. The original home of the English Pheasant was the neighbourhood of the river Colchis, 

 and hence its specific name of Phasianns colchicus, and it is still abundant in its original habitat. 



