132 ' PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY. 
be obtained in the open downs above, and amongst the rocks and thin herbage near ~ 
the snow. In autumn, as the underwood decays, they descend and scatter through 
the woods, sometimes in great numbers, and seek lower levels as the winter advances 
and the soil becomes frozen. At such times they draw near to the small villages, 
perched on the lower spurs and above the sheltered valleys, and seek their food in 
the fields, where the mountaineers, with their large hoes, have dug up the soil. In 
these seasonal migrations it has been remarked that the females and young birds 
descend lowest and approach nearest to human habitations. 
“They appear to be either capricious in their rambles through the woods, or 
are actuated to particular spots at particular times for reasons not apparent. Some- 
times the sportsman will put up in one part of the forest fifteen or twenty in the 
space of four or five acres. In another portion he may keep on flushing for the 
rest of the day single birds, feeding in solitude, far apart. At no time are they 
gregarious, and whenever alarmed they rise and escape independently of each other. 
In some parts only cock birds are found, in others only hens. 
“Severity of cold and scarceness of food have their taming effect on the 
monaul, as on other birds, and the lower the snow the easier the task of making 
a bag. When on the wing, it generally flies a long way, and if much alarmed 
crosses over to a parallel ridge. Occasionally, however, it will settle on the low limb 
of a tree, at no great distance, and once there, it is, like many other gallinaceous 
birds, easy of access. 
“ Sometimes when approached in open spots it walks off, or begins to run, 
stopping often and eyeing the intruder, till suddenly, and without apparent immediate 
cause, it will rise with a startling flapping or flutter of the wings, scattering the ~ 
dead leaves in a shower around, and fly headlong into the wood with a succession 
of short, piercing, shrieking whistles, which appear to act as a warning to some 
distant. companions, for their calls are often heard in reply. When feeding quietly 
and in security the monaul has a sweet, mellow call—a long plaintive note—which 
it utters from time to time, especially of a morning and after sunset. It has the 
same melancholy effect on the ear as the creaking whistle of the curlew winging 
his way along the mudflats as evening settles over the lonely shore. The call has 
a vather melancholy sound, or it may be that as the shades of a dreary winter’s 
evening begin to close on the snow-covered hills around, the cold and cheerless 
aspect of nature, with which it seems quite in unison, makes it appear so. 
«The monaul breeds towards the end of spring. The courtship is carried on 
in the chesnut and large timber forests before the birds ascend, during the summer 
heats, towards the regions of perpetual snow. It is generally near the upper limits 
of these forests, where the trees are dwarfed and sparingly scattered, that the hen 
lays and incubates three to five eggs, in a depression on the ground. The eggs are 
of a dull cream or pale buff colour, sprinkled with reddish brown. Like most 
