254 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



runways are of cement, thus doing a\va_y with that 

 greatest scourge of pheasant keeping — rats and 

 other similar vermin. 



The great Order of birds known as Gallincc, 

 comprises about four hundred species. It is in 

 this group that we find the birds, which of all their 

 Class are most useful to man — domestic poultry; 

 and perhaps also the most gorgeously plumaged, as 

 the Peacock and Impeyan Pheasants; while the 

 common name of game-birds, given to the entire 

 Order, shows that it is in a dietetic sense, and from 

 the sportsman's standpoint, that mankind most 

 often regard them. 



In size these birds range from the Wild Turkey, 

 which, with a ma.ximum weight of twenty-five 

 pounds or more, is one of the largest of the keel- 

 breasted birds, to the tiny Chinese Painted Quail, 

 less than five inches in total length. As comprising 

 the principal minor groups of the Order may be 

 mentioned the Mound-builders and Brush-turkeys, 

 the Curassows and Guans, Partridges, Quail, 

 Grouse, Turkeys, Pheasants and Peacocks. 



In the collection of the Society there are at present 

 nearly forty species of Gallincc, many of which are 

 quartered in the spacious runways of the Pheasants' 

 Aviary. 



The Subfamily Phasianina: includes the pheas- 

 ant-like game-birds. Passing over the Turkeys, 

 Guinea-fowl and Jungle-fowl, the true Pheasants 

 form an imposing array of proud carriage and 

 splendid plumage. Many of these birds when 

 captured, readily submit to a state of semi-domesti- 

 cation, laying fertile eggs and often rearing their 

 young; yet it is a remarkable fact that a number of 

 the most common species are natives of such isolated 

 or inaccessible localities that but little, or nothing, 

 is known of their habits in a state of nature. 



Sharing the first large runway, at the northern 

 end of the Aviary, and worthy of being classed with 

 the Argus as among the most exquisite of Pheasants, 

 are two pairs of Moonal Impeyan Pheasants. It is 

 idle to attempt to describe these birds, and a 

 photograph shows them to be apparently of only 

 varying dark shades, with thick-set body and a 

 racket-tipped crest. But when walking about in 

 the full glare of the sunlight, the male Impeyan 

 seems to be feathered with molten metal. From 

 every plume a myriad tiny prisms dissolve the light 

 into every hue of the rainbow. In a technical 

 description of the species, we read such terms as 



this, — metallic-green shot with purplish-blue, red- 

 dish copper-color, shading into golden-green and 

 bronze-crimson, etc. The female, as is the case with 

 many of the pheasants, is clad in sombre hues of 

 black and buff. 



Many of the pheasants and their allies are natives 

 of India, and the wild fastnesses of the Himalaya 

 Mountains are the centres of their distribution. 

 Among the lower ranges the Jungle-fowl makes its 

 home; midway to the greatest heights are found the 

 Eared and the Blood Pheasants, while the Impeyans 

 feed higher and higher, until, far beyond the limit 

 of tree growth, they approach the zone of perpetual 

 snow, perhaps sixteen thousand feet, — over three 

 miles above the le\'el of the sea ! One observer says 

 of these birds, " There are few sights more striking, 

 where birds are concerned, than that of a grand old 

 cock shooting out horizontally from the hillside 

 just below one, glittering and flashing in the golden 

 sunlight, a gigantic rainbow-tinted gem, and then 

 dropping stone-like, with closed wings, into the 

 abyss below." 



It is seldom that a pair of these birds is seen 

 together. There seems to be but little affection 

 shown, and the female hatches the eggs and rears 

 the young without any assistance on the part of the 

 male. Four to six eggs are laid in a slight hollow 

 in the ground. The call-note is a loud, plaintive 

 whistle. Thousands of the skins of the male birds 

 are annually imported into London to decorate, or 

 rather to deface, the hats of women. 



The Horned Tragopans are a splendid group of 

 five species, of which three are represented in the 

 collection. In color they are entirely unlike the Im- 

 peyans, the general tone being reddish and orange 

 buff. The name (from the Greek, meaning the 

 goat of Pan) is taken from the satjT-like, fleshy 

 horns on the head. These birds are inhabitants of 

 dense jungles and one must indeed be an enthusi- 

 astic sportsman to bring down a Tragopan. After 

 tramping through water, filling one's clothing and 

 flesh full of spear-grass and submitting to the blood- 

 letting of myriads of jungle leeches, a long wait is 

 necessary, during which the bird is drawn within 

 gun-shot by imitating its cry. Then a momentary 

 glimpse of its beautiful head and neck, is often all 

 that is vouchsafed — so keen of sight and sense are 

 they. 



The Siamese Fire-backed Pheasant is not un- 

 common in collections, but absolutely nothing is 



