INTRODUCTION xlv 



into some statuesque pose for as long a time as he thinks worth while. In the frontal 

 display the cock faces the hen, and in order to exhibit his entire upper plumage bends 

 far forward, his breast almost touching the ground, bill pointing downward. If the 

 wings are the chief ornamental feature, as in the Argus, these are spread into a great 

 sweep of feathers, which meet in front and shut out even his head and neck from view ; 

 if it is the train of the Peacock which is the chef douvre, it is spread widely, and the 

 wings and tail subordinated, either as a supporting framework or as furnishing castanet 

 quill music. In the Peacock Pheasants the tail completes the lateral two-thirds of wing 

 ornament, rounding them out into a symmetrical whole. 



The combats between rival males occur at the breeding season. In some groups, 

 such as the Ocellated and Argus Pheasants, spurs are absent, while the Blood Partridges 

 and all the Peacock Pheasants have two or more pairs. Number is no criterion of 

 pugilistic tendency, however, for the most confirmed fighters are the Junglefowls and 

 Firebacks, armed with a single pair of long, curved spurs, sharp as needles. In the 

 Crestless Firebacks even the hens are armed. These birds not infrequently kill one 

 another. Red Junglefowl appear to have fighting arenas, open spaces in the forest to 

 which combatants resort for the purpose of settling their rivalry. This is interesting as 

 showing an approximation to the assembling places of the prairie hens in the western 

 part of our own country. 



No detail or portion of body or plumage is exempt from contributing to the 

 supreme annual f^te of courtship. Wattles, combs, fleshy horns and great aprons all 

 enlarge and become colourful. The hues of beaks, legs, toes and even the iris of the eye 

 increase in brilliancy, and mentally the birds are at their height, reckless of danger, and 

 yet with all senses so attuned that they anticipate and evade it. Ready to fight to the 

 death if need be, to neglect food, drink, siesta, to carry to a successful issue, however 

 unconsciously, the third great duty of their lives, the perpetuation of their race. 



There is scarcely a genus of pheasants about whose domestic habits as regards 

 monogamy and polygamy I have not had to change my opinion. I have finally come 

 to the belief that all are sometimes one, sometimes the other. The normal condition 

 is the mating each year of a cock and a single hen, and all the groups will show this 

 relation frequently, while in a few it is the rule. On the other hand, where hens are 

 abundant, a harem of two, three or four will often be found associated with one cock. 

 These hens will frequently nest close together, and the cock remain in attendance on 

 all. In birds of more solitary habit, the hens will wander away and go through the 

 nesting and rearing seasons altogether alone, the cocks gathering in loose social flocks. 



If we exclude the group of Tragopans, which, after all, finds a place in this work 

 only by courtesy, pheasants are remarkably homogeneous in the matter of nesting. 

 Tragopans are decidedly arboreal and, although seldom making their own nest, they alter 

 and add to the nests of ravens and other birds, and therein deposit their eggs. Even 

 when they choose some spot on the ground they give it a substantial shape or lining 

 of twigs and leaves. 



All other birds within our scope are essentially ground nesters. The spot chosen 

 is usually in forest or jungle, near some partly open area, and close to the base of a tree, 

 a tuft of grass, or under the shelter of a boulder or dense shrub or bamboo. A slight 

 hollow is sometimes scraped clean and rounded out, or the depression may be caused 



