LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURES xv 



becoming rarer, and it is not likely that they can hold their own for a much longer period. They live 

 in pairs during the summer, but in autumn unite in good-sized flocks. When the snows come, these 

 birds work downward into the lower valleys and roost close together among the upper branches 

 of the tallest trees. 



Plate XX. WHITE EARED-PHEASANT {Crossoptilon tibetanum Hodgson) Facing page 184 

 Painted by G. E. Lodge. 



Although clad dominantly in white, these pheasants do not live in the snow, but retreat 

 before the early storms of winter downward into the valleys. Their home is in south-eastern 

 Tibet and central China, among the wildest mountains. Except in the breeding season they are 

 gregarious, living in flocks and often associating intimately with the tiny musk deer. They keep 

 to thick cover and are ever on the watch for the great eagles which swoop down upon them 

 without warning. The Tibetans of this region are very superstitious and allow no animals and 

 birds to be killed when they can prevent it. So the race of " Shaggas," as they are called, has a 

 good chance for existence as long as the lamas wield this kindly influence. 



PHOTOGRAVURES 



Photogravure i. THE EASTERN HIMALAYAS .... Facing page xx 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



The most wonderful scene in the world is the Himalayan snows from Darjeeling. Sitting 

 at the edge of the moss-hung forest at about seven thousand feet, one sees, through a filigree of 

 tree ferns, range after range, extending through green and blue and purple distance up to the 

 sharp edge of the snow line. The apex of all is Kinchinjunga, with beautifully draped Kabru 

 far to the left. Six species of pheasants live in these glorified hills. 



In the deeper valleys, where the chill of the snows never comes, are Red Junglefowl and 

 Peafowl. In the upper forest. Black-backed Kaleege roost and nest. Still higher, near the snows, 

 at nine or ten thousand feet, are the Satyr Tragopan and the Impeyan — most gorgeous of birds. 

 The last of the sextet lives at fourteen or fifteen thousand feet — at the very edge of the snows. 

 This is the Blood Partridge. 



Photogravure ia. WINTER HOME OF THE NEPAL HIMALAYAN BLOOD 



PARTRIDGE Facing page 10 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



In the Eastern Himalayas the limit of perpetual snow is at sixteen thousand feet, and in 

 winter the storms rush down from the crests and sweep everything before them to tree level. 

 Even the hardy Blood Partridges have to retreat and seek shelter and food several thousand feet 

 lower down. Here the great pines and spruces defy the elements, rearing their sturdy gnarled 

 trunks and spreading wide their scraggy branches. Between their trunks extend dense masses of 

 stunted rhododendrons, and among these the Blood Partridges spend the long winter days. From 

 the pines come the voices of titmice and nuthatches and creepers, and now and then the shadow 

 of a passing vulture cuts through the icy air. Only lonely Nepal shepherds ever visit these slopes. 

 It matters not to the birds that farther down in the valley there is warmth and insect life. There 

 too are safe roosting places. The Blood Partridges will have none of these, but cling to the edge 

 of the tree-line, ever ready to work upward at the first hint of spring. 



Photogravure 2. SUMMER HOME OF THE SIKHIM HIMALAYAN BLOOD 



PARTRIDGE Fadngpage 20 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



Three miles above the sea in the Himalayas the air is rarified, the sunlight is brilliant, the 

 flowers masses of intense colour. The frost splits the rocks and the storms beat upon them with 

 hail and scatter them piecemeal. In the alpine meadows only those low growths find foothold 

 which are pliable and willing to bow before the blasts. 



Tussocks of coarse tundra grass, slender lily stems, creeping juniper holding with knotted 

 fingers to every crevice — these give the touch of life. And to this desolate zone come the Blood 

 Partridges in spring, and here they nest among the shrubs in sheltered gullies, and search among 

 the tussocks for seeds and insect life, or dust themselves in the rock debris on the leeward sunny 

 side of the great jagged ridges. 



