756 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



weeks. Hawks were not common, and the few I saw were down in the valley ; 

 but in the evenings, when in camp, I frequently heard the plaintive cry of an 

 owl. There were several kinds of pigeon in the valley, including green pigeon ; 

 a nd throughout May the cuckoo was often heard, though I saw but one. 



Amongst the dense thickets which covered fallow taungya, were many warblers 

 and robins ; and higher up, wrens, tits, and flycatchers ; a small black crested 

 tit was one of the commonest birds in the Rhododendron forest at 11,000 feet. 

 In the more open parts of the forest a scarlet-breasted woodpecker was seen, 

 and there were some noisy magpies with long black and white barred tails. By 

 streams a grey wag-tail was common; also a beautiful piebald wag-tail, a choco- 

 late brown water ouzel, and a tiny white-polled red and black rock wren. The 

 last three are widely distributed for I have seen them over a large part of China 

 as well as in India. But by far the finest birds met with were Sclater's Monaul 

 {Lophophorus sdateri) and the Chinese Blood-Pheasant {Ithagenes sinensis) and 

 both are, strange to say, moderately common, for they are not greatly persecut- 

 ed by the Lisus — yet. Let us hope they will remain comparatively immune. I 

 found them strangely tame, especially the Monaul; but then of course they are 

 'fool birds .' Though I offered a big reward for a Monaul none were brought 

 to me; yet I myself saw six. I obtained one Blood Pheasant, shot — not trapped 

 be it noted — by a Lisu, with the cross-bow. 



The Blood Pheasants I saw several times in May, June and July in rhododen- 

 dron, bamboo and Abies forest which clothed a great spur of the mountain, bet- 

 ween 9,000 and 11,000 feet. They went about in flocks, and seemed to keep to 

 the crest of the ridge as we did ; for every time I went up the ridge in the 

 summer I met these birds. We would hear them calling loudly as they plunged 

 down the steep slope at our approach, but we generally managed to catch sight 

 of them. Only on one occasion, however, did I glimpse a male bird, and suspect 

 that the flocks seen were composed of young birds with the hen. On June 29th, 

 at 9,000 feet, in open shrub meadow., I put up a hen and several young of this 

 species just able to fly. Probably they were not above a month old, so that 

 we may reasonably infer that the bird lays its eggs in May. It cannot then 

 nest very high — probably below 10,000 feet in this country ; for up to the middle 

 of May at least there is plenty of snow about at that altitude. After July I did 

 not see any more blood pheasants, though I frequently went up the ridge. 



On July 27th I saw my first monual at nearly 13,000 feet. It was a female 

 however. The very next day I saw a male in the rhododendron scrub, and two 

 more females squawking from a rock. The first female, a bird rather bigger 

 than an English partridge, was also standing on a rock above the tree line, 

 squawking plaintively. As I approached she ran up the cliff still calhng loudly 

 but after a time she took to flight and sailed past me, followed by a j^'oung bird. 

 However she did not go far, but settling on a rock further do-woi the ridge began 

 calling again, till presently a second young bird joined her. Again I saw two fe- 

 males standing sentinel on a granite cliff, squawking loudly, at an altitude of 

 12,000 feet. As to the male, he ran behind a rock almost as soon as I saw 

 him ; but climbing over the rock I had quite a good view of him for half a 

 minute before he flew a short distance down the cliff and disappeared in the 

 scrub. The coloration of this bird is remarkable. The head is peacock blue 

 changing to metallic green ; neck bronze, breast and wings black. The short 

 fan-shaped tail is cinnamon, with a broad band of white across it. 



On August 29th, I saw my fifth adult bird, also a male. He was carrjang on 

 like a female, that is to say he stood up on a bare rock, squawking mournfully ; 

 he allowed me to approach quite close before he turned and walked slowly up 

 the cliff, still calhng. 



In October I saw another male high up on the mountain ; he sailed screaming 

 down the slope, and aftej- that I saw no more. 



