326 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



a scene he was once fortunate enough to 

 witness : " We had been sitting motion- 

 less for, I suppose, half an hour, when I 

 was startled, all of a sudden, by the loud 

 drumming noise I have already described 

 close at hand. The sound came from 

 behind, and on looking over my shoulder, 

 my companion, with a smile, pointed out 

 the drummer. An old cock Kalij was 

 squatting on the stump of a fallen tree, 

 and, with its feathers all ruffled and tail 

 spread, was causing this extraordinary 

 sound by rapidly beating its wings against 

 its body." 



The White-crested Kalij-Pheasant 

 breeds up to fully 8000 feet, the time 

 ranging from April to June. The eggs 

 vary from nine to fourteen in number, and 

 are laid in a hole scraped in the ground 

 in some underwood and under the shelter 

 of some stone, bush or tuft of grass. A 

 nest was once found on a large low 

 bough of a tree, but this must be a very 

 unusual site for a ibird to select. The 

 eggs vary in colour from pale creamy 

 white to rich reddish buff. They are oval 

 in shape and glossy, and they vary in 

 length from 1*85 to 2*03 and in breadth 

 from 1-25 to 1-52. 



The male has the crest white, the head 



