WESTERN TRAGOPAN 71 



they may be reared with little difficulty. Like the statements of so many early writers, 

 this statement has been widely copied, but never authenticated. In India I was told by 

 four different people who had tried to keep these Tragopans alive, that while it was true 

 that the wild-caught individuals soon became tame, yet none showed an inclination to 

 breed, and all died within a short time. No living Western Tragopan has thus far 

 reached America, and though a few have been kept from time to time in various 

 continental aviaries, the London Zoological Gardens has had only two birds, received 

 in 1882, both of which lived a little more than two years. Jamrach records that of the 

 total of forty birds which he imported, all reached Europe alive. 



As far as I know there is no account of the courtship display of the Western Tragopan, 

 but as it possesses the typical fleshy horns and lappet we may be certain that this does 

 not materially differ from the display of Temminck's. 



One nest with eggs has been recorded from the province of Hazara {circa N. Lat. 

 34° ; E. Long. 73°) by Captain Lantour. The nest of the "Argus," as he calls it, using 

 one of the colloquial misnomers of sportsmen, was found on May 25, 1869, ^^^ con- 

 tained six eggs, four of which are now in the British Museum. Captain Lantour was 

 shooting on a range of hills of from eight to eleven thousand feet altitude, covered with 

 pine forest. The "Argus" or Western Tragopans were plentiful about three-quarters 

 up toward the hill-tops in the vicinity of snowy nullas and rocky landslips, where there 

 was a considerable undergrowth. 



When he came across the nest, he was on the lookout for pheasants, but on the 

 steep slope had given his gun to his shikari, when a bird flew up almost at his feet. 

 This was in a pine forest, at a place where an old landslide had swept away all the pine 

 trees, their place being taken by small bushes and hazel-like shrubs. The nest was on 

 the ground, and was carelessly built, very roughly formed of grass, small sticks, and a 

 few feathers. 



A very careful description of these eggs is given by Hume, who says that they 

 " are more or less elongated ovals, considerably compressed towards the small end. 

 They are, as a whole, of very much the same length, but a good deal slenderer than the 

 eggs of the Moonal. The shell is fine, but almost absolutely devoid of gloss. Looked 

 at from a little distance, they appear to be of a uniform colour and devoid of markings, 

 and seem to vary from a pale cafd au lait to a dull reddish buff; looked at closely they 

 are seen to have a somewhat lighter ground colour, excessively finely and minutely 

 freckled and spotted with a somewhat darker shade. They are the least glossy of all 

 the true game bird's eggs that I know, and in shape and texture, though not in tint, 

 remind one not a little of those of the King Curlew and White Ibis, and other birds of 

 that family. In length they vary from 61 to 6^ mm., and in breadth from 42-5 to 

 43-5 mm. ; but the average of the six eggs is 64 by 43 mm." A set of these eggs which 

 I examined in Calcutta, collected June 4th in the Pir Pangal, Kashmir, averaged smaller 

 in size. Two of these were of a dull, pale ochre, muddied by a very faint, even mottling 

 of a slightly darker shade. One ^g<g shows a smear of dark ochre in one place, 

 terminating a lighter area. 



Now, this nest is of especial interest for two reasons : first from the fact that it is a 

 nest at all, since without exception the Galliformes of the Old World make no nest, 

 but merely deposit their eggs upon the ground. If this be among dead leaves and 



