THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 393 



May in the Chambi Valley, Tibet. The eggs were, unfortunately, 

 all smashed. From the fact of the male having been snared either 

 on or in the immediate vicinity of the uest, it certainly looks as if 

 sometimes the male did take an interest in the eggs and young. 



Habits. — The Blood Pheasant inhabits only mountain ranges, 

 just below the snow level, descending in the winter as low as some 

 8,000 feet, and ascending in summer as the snow recedes as high 

 as 15,000 feet, or to even greater heights. They are sociable 

 birds, being found either in family parties of from ten to fifteen 

 birds, or in flocks of from twenty to forty, when two or 

 more families join forces. They are very tolerant of extreme 

 cold, and are often found frecjuenting country still deep under 

 snow, though they are not more or less semi-hibernators, as suggest- 

 ed by Dr. Hooker. 



Hodgson remarks of the Blood Pheasant : — 



" This species is common in Nepal in flocks of twenty to 

 thirty, in the same situations as the Moonal ; that is to say 

 in the higher forests and in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the snow, even outside, though always near the forests. 



'•' They greatly affect the clumps of Mountain Bamboo, and 

 feed about on the ground amongst these much like domestic 

 fowls, turning over the leaves and grasses with their feet, 

 scratching about in the ground, and picking up insects, 

 grass, seeds, grain, and wild fruits. 



" They do not eat the bulbous roots of which the Moonal is 

 so found. On any alarm the whole flock utter a sharp 

 alarm-note ( ship, ship ) and scuttle away. 



" In the winter the birds come Southward a little, but never 

 approach the Great Valley. Numbers are caught in Novem- 

 ber and December, and in their own haunts they are, by no 

 means, rare. Packs are often seen consisting of as many as 

 70 to 100 birds. They ascend and descend with the snow, 

 and are easily captured, being fearless and stupid. They 

 prefer somewhat inaccessible places. Their flight is short 

 and feeble. 



" Adult males have often three spurs an each leg, and 



natives sa}^ that they are sometimes found with as many as 



five." 



All writers agree that the Blood Pheasant is a remarkably stupid 



bird, and that when a flock is found it is cjuite possible with 



patience and hard work to exterminate the whole of it. The birds 



after each shot merely move on a few yards, generally running in 



preference to flying, and can be put up or driven into the open one 



after another until the last falls a victim. They are also very easy 



to snare, and the Nepalese and natives of Sikhim catch large niim- 



bers, which they use as food or for sale to visitors in Darjiling. 



