Distribution of Paradoxornis lieudei. 



179 



species and its allied forms is graphically shown on the map 

 (Plate VIT.). 



The mode of life of P. heudei is so dependent upon the 

 growth of the reeds, that the bird's habits cannot be properly 

 appreciated without some knowledge of the annual changes 

 that occur in the reed-beds; the reader is therefore asked in 

 the accompanying table to follow birds and reeds together 

 " round the year " : — 



Time of 

 Year. 



Reed-beds. 



Jan. and j River at its lowest, the reed-beds 

 Feb. [ are hig-h and dry. 



The seeds being dropped, the 

 Chinaman spreads himself over 

 1 the land with reaping instruments ; 

 ; the reeds are harvested for fuel 

 and thatching purposes, and either 

 stacked or floated away down the 

 river in junks. 



By the end of January most of 

 the reeds have been cut, leaving 

 bare yellow-brown expanses of soil 

 with only the pointed stubs sticking 

 up a few inches to indicate the dis- 

 ajjpearance of the '"reed-forests." 



March The river commences to rise. 



and Early in March the young reeds 



April, appear above the soil ; they grow at 

 ; an astonishing rate, and by the end 

 ] of April form dense coverts of 

 I green exuberant plant-life from 3 

 to 6 feet high, their bases ac- 

 companied by a thick growth of 

 : convolvulus and other clinging 

 plants. 



At this season insects do not 

 appear to have commenced their 

 attacks on the reeds. 



Paradoxornis heudei. 



At this season P. }i. comes most 

 of all under the notice of the 

 "foreign devil" who goes to shoot 

 the Pheasants that abound in the 

 reed-beds in winter time. 



More especially is this the case 

 when the harvest is nearing com- 

 pletion and the standing reeds ai-e 

 reduced in area to a number of 

 comparatively small " islands," in 

 which both Pheasant and Paradox- 

 ornis are to be found packed. 

 Thus, in a one-acre patch, fifty 

 Pheasants may be beaten out 

 and as many P. h, seen, besides 

 numerous Suthoras, Biuitings, 

 Pipits, and other small birds.* 



This is the lean time of year for 

 P. /)., for the growing reeds have 

 not yet begun to be iised as 

 nurseries for the numerous insects 

 that form their staple diet. The 

 birds therefore have to pick up a 

 precarious existence from othei.' 

 sources, maybe from the few las*3 

 year's reeds not thought worth 

 cutting by reason of their standing 

 in water at reaping-time, or from 

 stacks and thatches, for Vx^hich 

 latter purpose the birds will come 

 right into the farms on the raised 

 gTound bordering the reed-beds. 

 This, presumably, is the season at 

 which the birds have been observed 

 by David and La Touche oi;t of 

 the reed-bods. 



* Siithara tcehbiann, Emherlza jiaUnsi.E. siiodocephaln, Anthus blaliistoniy&O 



N '^ 



