54 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



to look for danger from above, and one may watch them from a low branch for minutes 

 at a time, when it would be impossible to remain concealed on the ground ; their sharp 

 eyes ferreting out the cleverest blind. So in the case of Tragopan calling as with the 

 other pheasants, I have always had the best luck when concealed in a low tree. On 

 one such occasion my Tibetan called a Tragopan until it appeared from the neighbouring 

 rhododendron scrub, and walked swiftly out and around the very tree in which we 

 were perched. Its feathers were pressed close to the body, its head held high, and all 

 the usual heavy, rather hen-like appearance was gone. It was altogether a game-cock, 

 imbued for the time with that strange, instinctive hatred for its fellows which has come 

 down through all the ages and which annually brings about temporary civil warfare 

 among so many creatures — doves as well as lions. Now and then it gave a quick 

 impatient flirt to its wings, showing how keenly on edge was every nerve and muscle. 

 Then it stopped and, inhaling deeply, partly raised its beak and with an effort sent its 

 deep call booming out across the valley. My man dared not answer, and for a full minute 

 the bird waited and listened, then passed quickly on into the forest. I was fortunate 

 to have had such a glimpse of a calling pheasant and not to have alarmed it. Only one 

 who has tried to watch a wild Tragopan will know how tense and breathless I sat while 

 the bird remained in sight. 



It seems as if the full booming call was developed only at the breeding season, as 

 one never hears it except during April and May. I have twice known a young cock 

 in captivity to essay the challenge, but to fail pitifully, a short wheezy wap ! being the 

 best it could do. 



Tragopans are omnivorous feeders, but leaves and buds seem to form the principal 

 articles of their diet. Hume states that they feed on insects, the young green shoots 

 of bamboo and on onion-like bulbs ; Hodgson adds wild fruits, the seeds of rhodo- 

 dendrons, and aromatic leaves such as daphne and bastard cinnamon. The crops of 

 three birds which I examined were well filled ; two held many torn leaves and flowers 

 of the sweet-scented paper laurel, and one of these had also eaten a number of insects- 

 several small earwigs, black ants and a good-sized cockchafer, as well as a few spiders 

 and a small white centipede. The third bird, curiously enough, had packed its crop 

 with the bruised scarlet petals of rhododendron blossoms, mixed with a few laurel 

 leaves. 



Satyr Tragopans, like the majority of forest and low-country pheasants, confine 

 much of their activities to the early morning and late afternoons, but on dull, cloudy 

 days the birds may be found feeding at more irregular intervals. They feed on the 

 open edge of the forest, or scratch deep amid its undergrowth. And, too, they not 

 uncommonly feed in low trees and bushes, where they obtain petals, buds and berries. 

 With powerful glasses I have watched a cock Tragopan in full sunshine one hundred 

 yards away, climbing about the bare branches of a magnolia, picking here and there at 

 the long moss. 



The Tragopans seemed to feed on the upper slopes for only about two hours in 

 early morning, when they apparently descended again, as none could be found the rest 

 of the morning except in the lower valley. 



Occasionally a bird would make its way upward five hundred feet or more to the 

 crest of the ridge, and here I found they were scratching and feeding along the old 



