MIKADO PHEASANT 199 



two being particularly obstinate in this respect. Had it not been for the soft food I had 

 with me, I question if I should have succeeded in keeping some of them alive. As it 

 was none of them died, and with the exception of two which were accidentally killed on 

 Arizan, all arrived safely in this country. In a wild state (at any rate during the months 

 I was there) they appeared to live almost exclusively on green stuff. I was able to 

 identify the plant, which was growing everywhere, through finding some freshly plucked 

 leaves in the crop of a bird I had skinned; after that I had no further trouble with them 

 until they took to grain. In the crops of one or two I found insects, but during the 

 winter months all insect life was very scarce indeed. A food they must find plentiful at 

 certain seasons is the wild strawberry, which during my stay was mostly in bloom. In 

 the snares set for pheasants were caught tree partridges {Arboricola crudigularis), 

 Columba pulcricollts, Trochalopteruni morris omammi, two woodcocks, and a monkey. 



"The martin is, no doubt, the great enemy of the Mikado Pheasant, and probably 

 that is why they are so scarce. These animals were a constant source of trouble to me 

 and frightened my live birds considerably. Night after night they came into the camp 

 in the boldest manner and made sleep impossible. Traps were of no avail, and to shoot 

 them under the circumstances was out of the question, even if one had had the 

 opportunity. 



'' Both sexes of the Mikado make a loud cheeping noise like young turkeys, 

 especially in the early morning, and when frightened or disturbed the male hisses like a 

 snake. Undoubtedly the skins fade quickly, for already those procured are less bright 

 than they were and not nearly so brilliant as the living birds, which are resplendent. 

 They appear to nest about the end of April, for those I skinned at the beginning of that 

 month were just coming into breeding condition, and one of the hens commenced to lay 

 early in May ; the other two, being younger birds, have not laid this year." 



This data was obtained during a second expedition made to Formosa in January 

 191 2 with the object of securing living specimens of the Mikado Pheasant. With this 

 object in view, the collector made two camps on Mount Arizan, at seven and eight 

 thousand feet respectively. With the aid of the savage natives he succeeded, as we have 

 read, in obtaining a number of specimens. As a result of this expedition, eleven skins 

 and an equal number of living birds were brought to England. The latter, eight males 

 and three females, I had the pleasure of seeing in the aviaries of Mrs. Johnstone. Later 

 these birds found their way to various aviaries, and I was able to secure three for the 

 New York Zoological Park. As with a number of other rare pheasants in past years, 

 these first birds laid freely and the young were hatched with such ease that many people 

 believed that this species would equal or surpass the common pheasant as a semi- 

 domestic bird, but the second generation has not fulfilled the hopes aroused by the 

 first. 



This splendid lot of Mikado Pheasants were trapped by the savages in Formosa in 

 spring snares, like those set for argus in runways in the Bornean jungle. The birds 

 were rare and found only in the vicinity of Arizan at an elevation of seven to twelve 

 thousand feet, never lower. They do not feed on grain and but little on berries, but 

 almost altogether on the leaves of a very common, low-growing plant, with the leaves of 

 which their crops are often stuffed. This plant is not found below seven thousand feet. 

 Around Mount Arizan is a wide amphitheatre or semicircular ridge, sloping off in one 



