xiv LIST OF COLOURED PLATES 



Plate XIV. HIMALAYAN IMPEYAN PHEASANT {Lophophorus impeyanus 



Latham) ......... Facing page 114 



Painted by C. R. Knight. 



From Afghanistan to Bhutan, along the whole range of the Himalayas, the Impeyan makes 

 its home. Only the Blood Partridges live at a greater altitude. From one to three miles above 

 the sea, the Impeyan feeds and sleeps and nests. There is beauty to be found in both the cock 

 and the hen, but the colouring of the hen is the umber of dead leaves and the smooth brown of 

 lichens, while the cock is a living mirror of iridescence. Yet life is possible to both amid the 

 same surroundings ; they face the same problems, make the same fight for existence in the face 

 of dangers which threaten from the mountain slopes and from the clouds above them. And each 

 year they rear their broods, which marks the success of their long battle against great odds. In 

 this, they are but repeating the life of the generations before them ; for the Impeyan chain is a 

 long one. It reaches back unnumbered years to that mysterious time before the first men 

 appeared — and the first links were formed long, long before human beings were present to watch 

 the progress of this slow but courageous evolution. 



Plate XV. PLUMAGES OF THE HIMALAYAN IMPEYAN PHEASANT 

 {Lophophorus impeyanus Latham). 

 This plate will be found at the end of the fourth volume. 



Plate XVI. CHINESE IMPEYAN PHEASANT {Uphophorus Ihuysii Verreaux and 



St.-Hilaire) ......... Facing page 148 



Painted by G. E. Lodge. 



In the heart of Central China, wandering over a limited zone of the highest mountains, this 

 bird is making a brave fight for existence. The Chinese trap it on every occasion, and it is 

 hardly possible that it can exist for many more years. No white man has seen it alive. The 

 Chinese, inspired by the beautiful metallic lustre of the feathers, call it Ho-than-ky, the fowl-of- 

 bur ning-charcoal . 



Plate XVII. SCLATER'S IMPEYAN PHEASANT {Lophophorus sclateri 



Jerdon) ......... Facing page 152 



Painted by G. E. Lodge. 



The least known of all the Impeyans is this curl-crested bird, clad in shimmering gold, green 

 and blue iridescence. Until now, only the wild tribes of Aborland have known where to find 

 it, and the few skins in our museums have been secured by them. After a day of difficult 

 exploration, I found three of the Impeyans deep in the wilderness of northern Yunnan. One I 

 secured and the two others boomed away over the bamboos, far off into the distant valley. Their 

 haunts are so well guarded by savage tribes that it may be impossible to see them before the 

 birds become extinct. So limited is the region they inhabit, so narrow are the upper ridges on 

 which they make their home, there can be but few of them alive in the world. 



Plate XVIII. BROWN EARED-PHEASANT {Crossoptilon mantchuricum Swinhoe) 



Painted by G. E. Lodge. Facing page 164 



On a cold day in early April, on a tundra-like expanse far beyond Pekin, I watched this flock 

 of Eared-Pheasants drift past. Around my umbrella tent, tiny voles appeared whenever the sun 

 shone ; buntings and wagtails dashed down for a few minutes, feeding ; small, timid musk deer 

 walked slowly downward toward the stream at the valley bottom. The pheasants fed as they 

 moved, gathering about some tuft of grass and uprooting it with their stout beaks to search the 

 loam for grubs and tubers. They did not suspect my presence, they uttered no sound, and in a 

 few minutes they had passed out of my sight for ever. 



Plate XIX. BLUE EARED-PHEASANT (Crossoptilon auritum Y^W^s) . Facing page 178 



Painted by G. E. Lodge. 



The mountain slopes of north-eastern Tibet, with their larch, cedar and birch woods, are the 

 roosting places of these birds, which by day come out into more open zones where growths of 

 low bamboo, rhododendron, hawthorn and wild rose afford protection for their nests. The Chinese 

 farmers set traps innumerable, for the central tail feather of the Eared-Pheasant is the badge of 

 authority for the military leaders and therefore brings a high price. Year by year the birds are 



