COMMON KOKLASS PHEASANT 19 



In the distance we hear the tap, tap of the woodman's axe, and soon a mighty crash 

 denotes that some stately Paluda will no longer grace these mighty forests ; but, what is 

 of more immediate interest, following on the crash there rings out the cry of several male 

 Koklass far down in the valley below. The cry is far different to that of the bird found 

 in English coverts. All the same, they respond to the same stimulus as their distant 

 cousins in their western home ; for who has not heard the cock pheasants in a home 

 covert set crowing by a sudden noise, such as the first clap of thunder of a storm ? 



" This determines our way, so down we start until we come to a path my man knows 

 of. The spaniel is encouraged to range chiefly above the path, as if she flushes any 

 birds below they will most certainly escape unshot at. We work along round the valley, 

 but although we know there must be birds somewhere, the little lady cannot find a scrap 

 of scent until after a long search. On rounding a bend, she suddenly makes upwards, 

 and I lose sight of her. A long wait, and then a distant yap ; a minute later and a dark 

 form is seen gliding downwards between the trees and curving away towards the side of 

 the nullah. I fire as he comes, but the intervening branches are the only things at all 

 injured, so I swing well ahead and fire again, but only realize as I press the trigger that 

 the bird is putting on the brake hard, with the intention of alighting on the side of the 

 nullah. Down rushes the spaniel, panting and exhausted. I show her a pool of water, in 

 which she wallows for a moment and then jumps out refreshed and ready for anything, 

 so I put her on the place where I last saw the pheasant, and without hesitation she 

 dashes up and over a ridge dividing this from the next small nullah. I follow round 

 below her hastily ; three, four, five minutes pass, and I have visions of her lying beside 

 a dead pheasant that she is too exhausted to carry ; but not so ; she again gives tongue, 

 and again the wily old bird dashes down. I swing on to him, and continuing the swing, 

 catch him in the open space between two trees, although at the moment of pulling the 

 trigger I could not see him. What a handsome bird and what spurs ! Even a game 

 cock might have envied them. 



** On retracing our steps (this bird had gone back) I notice the rotting trunk of a tree 

 with small pieces of rotted wood scattered underneath it. I pause to examine it, and the 

 hillman says that is what the pheasant was feeding on, and went further to explain that 

 large insects bore holes in the rotten wood, and the pheasants dig them out and eat them. 

 A further walk along the path and a stiff climb up to the ridge and another cock pheasant 

 is added to our bag, and yet another got away unshot at ; there did not seem to be 

 anything but solitary old cocks here. 



'' Now for some light refreshment and a rest for a couple of hours in the shade, then 

 I wake my slumbering companion, and we proceed, plunging downwards through the 

 jungle, reaching a well-worn path after an hour's tramp." 



DETAILED DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male. — Mid-crown ashy brown, becoming buff on the rear crown where 

 the feathers are elongated in a rather stiff, long and slender crest. Immediately behind 

 these sprouts a series of still longer, narrow, black feathers, glossed with shiny green, 

 which form the posterior and greater part of the crest. Some of these plumes are 

 100 mm. in length, growing directly across the occiput, from one patch of ear-coverts 



