LIST OF COLOURED PLATES ix 



Plate XXXIII. MALAYAN CRESTLESS FIREBACK Acomus erythrophthalmus 



(Raffles) ......... Facing page 102 



Painted by G. E, Lodge. 



These birds are exceedingly pugnacious, and I have even seen hens fighting madly with 

 each other. Both sexes are armed with spurs. They live along the small creeks which wind 

 through the low jungle, and haunt the water-holes of the buffalo. The sound of warning or 

 challenge, uttered when two cocks threaten one another, is a deep, hoarse drawl, almost a snarl, 

 sounding as much like a small cat as a pheasant. 



Plate XXXIV. BORNEAN CRESTLESS FIREBACK Acomus pyronotus (Gray) 



Painted by G. E. Lodge. Facing page 108 



Low, wet jungle along the coast of Borneo is the home of this bird. I have seen a pair 

 feeding beneath a berry tree, upon the fallen fruit, together with the insects which have collected. 

 A small bird called out in alarm at the sight of some danger, and both birds squatted flat 

 among the begonias. A scale-bird sang, and confidence was at once restored. A few minutes 

 later a great branch crashed to the ground, but the birds hardly glanced up, so perfectly did 

 they judge between actual danger and a harmless jungle happening. 



Plate XXXV. SIAMESE CRESTED FIREBACK Lophura diardi (Temminck) 



Painted by G. E. Lodge. Facing page 1 16 



Sportsmen in Siam who sit up on the look-out for tigers, sometimes see this magnificent 

 bird step out from the jungle and walk slowly past, its fiery golden back flashing even in 

 moonlight. It lives in dense bamboo thickets, and comes into more open jungle, often near the 

 banks of a river, to feed and drink. It is as easy to trap as it is difficult to observe, and the 

 Siamese bring many to the Bangkok market. 



Plate XXXVI. PLUMAGES OF THE BORNEAN AND SIAMESE CRESTED 



FIREBACKS Lophura ignita and Lophura diardi . . Facing page 120 

 Drawn by H. Grdnvold 



Fig. I, Chick of Bornean Crested Fireback, Lophura ignita. 

 Figs. 2. and 3. Bornean Crested Fireback, Lophura ignita. 



Juvenile plumage of the female (2), and male (3). 

 Fig. 4. Siamese Fireback, Lophura diardi. 



Transition plumage between juvenile and first year, showing sequence and nodes of moults 

 and the unusual pattern complexity of the immature wing-feathers. 



Plate XXXVII. MALAYAN CRESTED FIREBACK Lophura rufa (Raffles) 



Painted by G. E. Lodge. Facing page 122 



A single glimpse of these birds after many hours of nerve-racking search is the usual 

 reward. They are very shy and for ever on the alert for the slight crack or rustle of twig or 

 leaf, but their beauty is worth the longest stalk and the most wearisome wait. They are found 

 in pairs or in small families, and when alarmed go off with a headlong rush through the under- 

 brush in preference to attempting flight. 



Plate XXXVIII. BORNEAN CRESTED FIREBACK Lophura ignita (Shaw) 



Painted by C. R. Knight. Facing page 128 



This splendid bird chooses to live in low, swampy jungle, coming out to feed in the small, 

 shaded glades. In one such place, embowered with green and decorated with great elkhorn 

 ferns, a family of Firebacks spent many weeks. Although not far from a native Dyak house, 

 yet it was also close to a burial-ground, and the fear of evil spirits gave safety to the birds. 



When standing quietly, the colours of the Fireback cocks merge with the hues of the 

 jungle, but at the slightest movement the glittering back detaches itself from the spots of sun- 

 light, and the blue-black body from the dark shadows, and the bird stands out in its full glory. 

 b 



