242 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



perhaps in winter) and seem to shun it, 

 as much as the Blood Pheasant delights 

 in it. Even the Moonal will be seen high 

 above the forest, well up on grassy slopes, 

 fringed with and dotted about with patches 

 of snow. But the Tragopan is essentially 

 a forest bird, rarely if ever wandering up 

 towards the snow or into the open, and 

 though frequenting perhaps rather their 

 outskirts than their deeper recesses, it 

 hardly ever voluntarily quits the shelter 

 of the woods and their dense under- 

 growth. 



" Except by chance, when you may 

 come upon a male sunning himself or 

 preening his feathers on some projecting 

 rock or bare trunk of a fallen tree, these 

 birds are never to be seen, unless by aid 

 of three or four good dogs, who will 

 speedily rouse them up, or of a trained 

 shikari, who will call them out by cleverly 

 imitating their loud bleating cry. 



" If you ever catch a passing glimpse 

 of them, it is but for a second ; they drop 

 like stones from their perch and dart 

 away with incredible swiftness, always 

 running, never > so far as I have seen, 

 rising, unless you accidentally almost walk 

 on to them or have dogs with you." 



In the spring these birds are continually 



