SATYR TRAGOPAN 53 



the calls of nutcrackers. Every bird for many yards around knows that something is 

 wrong, and will be uneasy and on its guard for a time. 



When the birds perceive approaching danger some distance off, they utter no 

 sound whatever, but silently slip away. Even when surprised, they sometimes fly 

 off silently, with beak open in fear, but only the sound of their wings to mark their 

 aerial path. 



The call note of the Satyr Tragopan is very distinct from its cry of alarm. 

 I have heard it a number of times given by wild birds, and in captivity it is a very 

 characteristic utterance. It differs in the two sexes. The male utters it as a herald 

 of his nuptial display — a high, rather quavering bdd ! bdd ! bad ! bdd ! Where this is 

 heard the hen is usually near by, and, unless something occurs to alarm the birds, a 

 display is almost sure to follow. The hen utters a call comparable to this when 

 separated from her nearly grown young, the call in this instance being given singly 

 and in a slightly higher, shriller tone. 



The challenge of the adult cock Satyr is a most remarkable sound, to which 

 I have already alluded. It has a wonderful carrying power, and I have heard a 

 bird call from the same point about every ten minutes for a full hour as I climbed 

 away from it, coming fainter but as distinctly at a half mile distance and eleva- 

 tion as at first. When heard fifty yards away its deep, half-booming, half-bleating 

 character is very evident, a weird, full-throated cry, which seems peculiarly fitted 

 to the heart of this rugged wilderness. At this distance one can fit no written words 

 to it, but further away, when more softened, it may be indicated wah ! waah ! 00-ah ! 

 00-aaaaah ! the last tone sometimes drawn out into a heartrending crescendo wail. 

 These syllables usually run together so as to sound like a single utterance, and 

 indeed they are the result of one exhalation. The panda, or cat-bear, another in- 

 habitant of these Himalayas, utters, as I have said, a sound not unlike the Satyr 

 Tragopan, but when heard close at hand the nasal, feline character of tone of 

 this brightly coloured, raccoon-like animal is apparent. The Lepchas call it Wah 

 from this cry. 



As stated by C. P. Smith, Tragopan cocks in captivity utter this call during only 

 a few days of the breeding season, but this is doubtless because the combative phase of 

 courtship is soon at an end — anticipated, perhaps, by the absence of rivals and close 

 association with the hen. In wild birds the challenging is kept up for at least two 

 weeks and probably longer. At this time the cocks select some favourite perch or beat 

 and call from it day after day, especially in early morning. In regions where the birds 

 have been persecuted they may be made to boom by a sudden loud shout, the discharge 

 of a gun, or by a rock rolled down some steep bit of jungle slope. I have heard these 

 birds burst into cry after such a stimulus, late in the morning. However, they usually 

 call but once under such conditions. 



Native hunters are adepts at answering the birds and thus luring them within 

 gunshot, and I have myself been able on several occasions to get the birds to answer 

 five or six times. But as the Tragopan approaches it becomes more wary and always 

 something seemed to give it warning of my perfidy. This answer and advance proves 

 that the call is a challenge to rival cocks, and not a summons to the hen, as the latter 

 never utters the booming note. Pheasants, when in the forest or jungle, seem seldom 



