160 The Display of the Monal Pheasant.


and October soaked the ground to such an extent that the air in

the aviary was damp and chilly. No more makeshift aviaries

for me.


It may be remembered by some readers of the Aviciiltural

Magazine that I have recommended barley water as a constituent

in the food for Lories. I may perhaps mention that I am more

than satisfied with this method of feeding. My Lories never

give any trouble and I should not be surprised if the milk in the

food could not be still further reduced in quantity.



THE DISPLAY OF THE MONAL PHEASANT.


By C. Barney Smith.


That metallic beauty, the Monal Pheasant, is by no means

uncommon. It is however not so commonly kept in captivity but

that I considered myself fortunate when, on the ioth of January,

I witnessed a cock bird give a striking courting display.


He lowered both wings, stiffened the copper-red feathers

on his neck to look like a small ruff, drew his bill under his chin

so as to display his crest better, and then crept slowly round a

grassy mound to look if the hen was observing him.


Finding this to be the case, he crouched low on the

ground, dropped his wings even further, and spread out his tail

into a fan-shape as far as it would go—which was a long way.

He then suddenly raised his tail upwards and bristled up all his

feathers, the head being lowered near the ground. He next

lowered his tail, still keeping it spread out fan shape, and

commenced such a loud rattling and rustling of all his feathers

(accompanied by a plaintive whistling) that I could scarcely

believe it was the bird making so much noise. He then closed

his feathers, except the tail (which he still spread to its utmost

extent) and gave several frog-like leaps forward in the direction

of the hen, stopped short, jerked himself suddenly right-about-

face, gave a flourish of his fan-tail in front of the hen, suddenly

closed his tail and then ran away.


Apart from natural interest in such grotesque movements,

two things strike me (i) whether it was not unusually early for

such courting display and (2) whether Monal Cocks when dis¬

playing do not ordinarily keep their feathers closed.



