208 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL SIST. SOCIET J, Vol. XXI F. 



" and taking hold of the bamboo near the ground with its bill, 

 ' ' it gives a sudden spring backwards to try to pull it up ; the 

 " consequence is that its head is nearly severed from its body 

 "by the razor-like edges of the bamboo. 



" A.nother method is to erect two small posts, about 4 feet 

 "high and 3 feet apart, in the clearing, across the top of which 

 " a bar is firmly fastened; over this bar a string is run, by one 

 '• end of which a heavy block of wood is suspended just under 

 "the bar, while the other end is fastened to a peg lightly 

 " driven into the ground immediately beneath the block. The 

 "bird commencing, as usual, to clear away these obstructions, 

 " soon manages to pull up the peg, and thus releases the heavy 

 "block of wood, which falls and crushes it. 



" The males are not at all quarrelsome, and apparently 

 " never interfere with each other, though they will answer each 

 "' other's calls. The call of a male sounds like ' how-how,' repeated 

 " ten or a dozen times, and is uttered at short intervals when 

 "the bird is in its clearing, one commencing and others in the 

 " neighbourhood answering. The report of a gun will set every 

 " male within hearing calling, and on the least alarm or excite- 

 " ment, such as a troop of monkeys passing overhead, they call. 



" The call of the female is quite distinct, sounding like 'how- 

 " owoo, how-owoo,' the last syllable much prolonged, repeated 

 "ten or a dozen times, but getting more and more rapid until 

 " it ends in a series of ' owoo's ' run together. Both the call of 

 " male and female can be heard to an immense distance, that of 

 " the former especially, which can be heard at the distance of a 

 "mile or more. Both sexes have also a note of alarm, a short, 

 " sharp, hoarse bark. 



" The female, like the male, lives quite solitary, but she has 

 " no cleared space, and wanders about the forest apparently with- 

 " out any fixed residence. The birds never live in pairs, the 

 " female only visiting the male in his parlour for a short time. 



" The food consists chiefly of fallen fruit, which they swallow 

 " whole, especially one about the size and colour of a prune, 

 "which is very abundant in the forests of the South, but they 

 " also eat ants, slugs and insects of various kinds. These birds 

 "all come down to the water to drink about 10 or 11 a.m., 

 " after they have fed and " before they, or at any rate the males, 

 " return to their parlours." . 



Genus~POi YPLBGTRON. 



The genus Polyplectron consists of pheasants of grey, grey-brown 

 or buff plumage, freely vermiculated or barred with darker, and with 

 metallic coloured ocelli on the tail and wings. 



The tail consists of 20 to 24 feathers, the central rectrices " greatly- 



