LIST OF COLOURED PLATES xiii 



Figure 2. A bird six weeks old has assumed full juvenile plumage, typical in pattern ; a 

 warm buffy background mottled and barred with black, with a conspicuous terminal, paddle-shaped 

 shaft-stripe. 



Figure 3. Birds in the first year plumage are quite uniform as to body, but if the moult has 

 been late the head and neck will correspondingly be more adult in colour and pattern, as in the 

 bird figured. Even a few days will make considerable difference in the pigment deposited, so 

 that cocks of this age show a remarkable amount of variation. 



Plate IX. WATTLES OF COCK TRAGOPANS . . . . Facing page 62 



Drawn by H. Grdnvold. 



These wonderful structures come to their full development at the breeding season. At this, 

 as at all other times, they are usually quite invisible, being drawn up to an^ inconspicuous fold of 

 skin beneath the chin, hidden by feathers. At the climax of courtship the great apron of skin 

 becomes distended and its remarkable pigments and patterns are momentarily displayed to their 

 full expanse before the hen. 



Figure i . Wattle of Western Tragopan ( Tragopan melanocephalus). 



Figure 2. Wattle of Cabot's Tragopan (7^r^^(?^<3:;2 ^«(5^/z). 



Figure 3. Wattle of Temminck's Tragopan {Tragopan temmincki). 



Figure 4. Wattle of Blyth's Tragopan {Tragopan blythi blythi). 



Figure 5. Wattle of Satyr Tragopan {Tragopan satyra). 



Plate X. WESTERN TRAGOPAN {Tragopan melanocephalus Gray) . Facing page 66 



Painted by A. Thorburn. 



In the mountain forests of the Western Himalayas lives this great bird, its black and crimson 

 plumage covered with a shower of silvery stars. Its cry echoes through the gorges of Kashmir and 

 the tumbled masses of mountainous Garhwal. A dozen are sometimes found together, and 

 throughout the winter they keep within calling distance of one another. They are fond of the 

 buds of trees, and thus can find sustenance even when the ground is covered deep with snow. 



Plate XI. BLYTH'S TRAGOPAN {Tragopan blytki blythi ]^vdon) . . Facing page 78 



Painted by A. Thorburn. 



The deep, hot valleys of Assam and the hundreds of miles of lowland plains are populated by 

 many birds, but never a Tragopan is found there. A mapped diagram of the haunts of this bird 

 would appear like a cobweb tracing of all the crests and upper slopes of the higher mountains. Here 

 the oak forests are moss-hung and scented with orchids and jasmine. The ice-cold rivulets are 

 beloved of these birds, and they come out from the bamboo to the mossy boulders to quench 

 their thirst and to send forth^their musical clanging cry — a challenge to battle or a summons to a 

 mate, as the case may be. 



Plate XII. TEMMINCK'S TRAGOPAN {Tragopan temmincki ].Y.. Qxx^y) . Facing page 88 



Painted by A . Thorburn. 



Although the most widely distributed, yet this is the least known of its group. Its home is 

 in the great heart of China, far from the beaten trails which all travellers follow, and among the 

 oaks and rhododendrons of high altitudes. This Tragopan spends much of its time among their 

 gnarly branches, feeds on their buds and fashions its nest in the dense foliage. Few white men 

 have seen it wild, but the Chinese frequently trap it. They have spread out the great curious 

 throat wattle and have found a resemblance in its pattern to one of their written characters ; so to 

 them the Tragopan is Tso-che, the bird of longevity. 



Plate XIII. CABOT'S TRAGOPAN {Tragopan caboti Go\x\d) . . • Facing page 100 



Painted by A . Thorburn. 



Hundreds of bird-lovers have this Tragopan living in their aviaries ; probably less than a 

 half dozen white men have seen it wild. In houseboat and sampan one can penetrate to their 

 haunts in Fokien, but except for a quick shot at sight, one must have the patience and facility 

 of a real wilderness creature to watch these wary birds undiscovered. They are surrounded 

 everywhere in the valleys by Chinese, who plant their rice or bury their dead on every available 

 spot. But the birds still hold their own in the face of a race which, while it has deforested the 

 whole country, yet prefers rice and fish to a diet of game. 



