^6 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



" Both males and females often crow at daybreak and dusk, and in cloudy weather 

 sometimes during the day. The crow is loud and singular, and when there is nothing 

 to interrupt, the sound may be heard for at least a mile. It is something like the words 

 chir-a-pir, chir-a-pir, chir, chir, chirwa, chirwa, but a good deal varied ; it is often 

 begun before complete daylight, and in spring, when the birds are numerous, it 

 invariably ushers in the day ; in this respect it may rival the domestic cock. When 

 pairing and scattered about, the crow is often kept up for nearly half an hour, first from 

 one quarter, then another ; and now and then all seem to join in a chorus. At other 

 times it seldom lasts more than five or ten minutes. 



''The Cheer Pheasant feeds chiefly on roots — for which it digs holes in the ground 

 — grubs, insects, seeds and berries, and, if near cultivated fields, several kinds of grain 

 form a portion of its diet ; it does not eat grass or leaves like the rest of our pheasants. 



"This bird flies rather heavily, and seldom very far. Like most others, it generally 

 utters a few loud screeches on getting up, and spreads out the beautifully barred feathers 

 of its long tail both when flying and running. It does not perch much on trees, but 

 will occasionally fly up into one close by, when put up by dogs. It roosts on the 

 ground generally, and when congregated together the whole flock huddles up in one 

 spot. At times, however, they will roost in trees and bushes. 



"The Cheer breeds throughout the lower ranges of the Himalayas, within the limits 

 already indicated, at elevations of from four to seven or eight thousand feet. Their 

 nests may be met with from April to June, most of the eggs, however, being laid during 

 May, early or late in the month, according as the season is a cold or warm one. 

 Personally, I have only taken three nests of this species altogether, so that I cannot 

 generalize safely ; but my impression, derived from this limited experience, is that they 

 always nest near or about the foot of some very precipitous hillside, what the natives 

 call 'Dang,' cliffs not absolutely vertical, but still the next thing to it, broken up into 

 ledges and steps, and studded with down-trailing bushes, tufts of grass, and, growing 

 here and there out of some larger cleft or wider ledge, a few stunted trees. 



"I was once living at a small house behind the 'Camel's Back' at Mussooree, a 

 house which was afterwards converted into a dispensary. About a thousand feet below, 

 and perhaps half a mile from this, is a precipice such as I have described, and at the 

 foot of this, in the midst of a tuft of grass, I found, on the 3rd of May, a nest of the 

 Cheer containing two eggs. It was a mere depression, some fourteen inches in diameter 

 and three inches in depth in the centre, obviously scratched by the birds, and strewed, 

 rather than lined, with a few scraps of grass. Eleven more eggs were laid, one daily, 

 and then the hen began to sit. One tg<g was addled ; the rest were hatched some time 

 in June, but I kept no note of the date. The whole family then took up their residence 

 in the precipice, and there remained until the middle of October, when, the young being 

 nearly full grown, I commenced shooting them, and shot a brace once or twice a week, 

 until there were only two or three young ones left. At 11 a.m. they were always in the 

 upper part of the precipice ; my dogs used to be put in, and would rummage along the 

 ledges and turn them out, when, after a few strong strokes outwards from the face of 

 the cliff, they would all but close their wings and come down past me (I always stood in 

 the same place, on a knoll at the foot of the cliff, where I was safe from stones) like 

 lightning. I remember well missing every single shot the first day, but the next time 



