82 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



water, and when the coming of the rains again fills the beds of the mountain streams, 

 it ascends and nests near the upper limits of its life zone. 



In the Chin Hills, near Fort White, it is said to be often seen, and to show so 

 little fear of man that it has been knocked over by a stone, while feeding in the road. 



Like the natives of Nepal, the Nagas catch these and other birds by means of a 

 long line of snares, set across a ravine, into which the birds are driven slowly by a 

 line of beaters. It is said that snares are also set in the paths which the birds are 

 accustomed to take, which would show that, like the satyr tragopan, these also cover 

 a more or less limited area in the daily ascent and descent in search of food. 



It is said to nest about April, and to deposit three or four eggs, but no 

 definite information concerning its nidification has yet been recorded by white men. 

 Mr. Stuart Baker's observation of the courtship of the cock remains unique. The 

 male possesses the typical tragopan fleshy horns and lappet brilliantly coloured and 

 developed to their full extent only during the breeding season. 



There should be ample opportunity of obtaining additional data concerning the 

 life history of Blyth's Tragopan before it becomes extinct, owing to the dense, almost 

 impenetrable nature of the forests it inhabits, especially during the rains when the 

 birds are breeding. It seems little short of suicide to attempt to penetrate many parts 

 of the Assam region during the terrific downpours of water at the rainy season. 

 Immune to fever and such dangers though they must be, these birds, of all the Tragopans, 

 would seem to have most use for arboreal nests — thus avoiding not only the terrestrial 

 enemies of the dense forest, but the floods which in places are said fairly to inundate any 

 level tract, and sweep clean much of the slopes. 



As I have mentioned in the introduction to the synonymy, the second known 

 specimen was brought alive to the London Zoo on March 12th, 1870. This bird lived 

 six months. Since that time four other specimens have been placed on exhibition in 

 the same institution. The average duration of the life in captivity of these five birds, 

 four of which were males, was a little over three years, while one of them established a 

 record for the entire genus with a duration of life of eleven years and one month. The 

 average life is also considerably superior to that attained by any other species in 

 captivity. This is doubtless directly attributable to the greater similarity which is 

 presented by the English climate to the humid atmosphere of Assam, unlike that 

 of the higher Himalayas and the ranges of central China. 



Birds kept in captivity in Assam have thriven on a diet of berries, worms, and 

 unhulled rice. 



In the collection of the British Museum is the skin of an immature male, said to 

 have been bred in captivity. An Qgg in that museum, labelled as from Sadiya, resembles 

 the eggs of Temminck's tragopan, being of a rufous-buff colour, thickly speckled with 

 dull rufous-brown. It measures 61 x 44 mm. 



TEXT IDENTIFICATIONS 



Page. Line. 



78 19 Mahseer, Barbus tor. 



79 27 Yellow-throated Minivet, Pericrocotus Solaris Blyth. 

 79 29 Scaly-breasted Wren, Pnoepyga squamata (Gould). 

 79 34 Flying Lizards, Draco sp. 



