THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 217 



earth and other scraps in every direction as they scratch for food, 

 but turn these same over with a very quiet and restrained movement 

 and again, though they move Avith great speed they do not, unless 

 frightened, progress in little rushes and they chase insects hither 

 and thither. In moving, heads and tails are both normally held Ioav 

 and they quietly slink in and out amongst the lowest obstructions 

 rather than hop over them. 



It is doubtless this last trait which makes them such easy birds 

 to trap. The Nagas and other hill tribes catch them by making a 

 little brush-wood fence not more than a few inches high across 

 strips of jungle frequented b}^ pheasants, leaving here and there 

 little openings in and about which they place mithna-hair nooses. 

 The birds as they hunt for food come across this fence and, rather 

 than go over it, will hunt along it xintil they come to an openino\ 

 and in this way walk into the nooses and are caught. They are 

 also, as described by Inglis in " Game-Birds often caught by the 

 Kukies " ( and he might have added all the other hill tribes) by a 

 noose set with a bait. Inglis descriloes the trap thus : — 



" The snare consists generally of a sapling, or branch of a 



" tree bent towards the groiTud ; one end of a piece of string is 



"tied to the sapling, and on the other end is a noose; the 



" noose is spread round a small hole in the earth ; the trap itself 



" is a simple contrivance of a few split pieces of bamboo; the 



" bait is a small red berry of which the bird is very fond; 



" the berry is firml}'' attached to the trap, and the bird, peck- 



" ing at the berry, releases the catch ; the sapling flies up, and 



" the bird is noosed by the neck or feet." 



In some parts of Burmah, the Polyplectron is so common and so 



easy to trap that the villagers bring them instead of village fowls 



to the officers who are touring their districts, selling them at a 



cheaper rate than they do the latter. 



In Siam also this Pheasant appears to be very common. Mr. 

 Gairdner writes in the Siam Natural History Society Journal : 



" The Grey Peacock -Pheasant (Polyplectron thibetanum) 

 " was exceptionally common, and the call when heard from a 

 " great height above the valley resembles that of a hoarse goat. 

 "Near at hand it is ' qua-qua-qua ' repeated with lessening 

 " intervals until the bird apparently becomes apoplectic, and 

 " can only screach. I have been told by trustworthy men that 

 " the Peacock-Pheasant is the ' kaw-kaw ' bird, and that on a 

 " sudden clap of thunder a captive bird was actually seen 

 "uttering the sound. On the crash caused by falling trees or 

 " on a clap of thunder, this ' kaw-kaw ' is instantly heard, to - 

 " gether with the barking of anjr langurs within hearing, and 

 " I have only heard this ' kaw-kaw ' in jungle inhabited by the 

 " Peacock-Pheasant." 



