xii LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURES 



Photogravure 21. HOME OF RIPPON'S SILVER AND OF EASTERN HYBRID 



KALEEGE Facing page %Z 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



Three of these rare hybrids crossed this trail one day, headed into a wild, deep gorge. The 

 mountains rose high on all sides, except to the northward, where the purple distance ended in the 

 jagged ranges of the unexplored tri-corner of Tibet, Yunnan and Burma, 



Parrakeets and flycatchers screamed, and at last I heard the tremulous wing-whirr of a 

 pheasant. But it was an hour later before the timid birds appeared— clad in ebony and white, 

 walking slowly downward, on their way to the water, at the bottom of the gorge. 



Photogravure 22. HOME OF THE WESTERN HYBRID KALEEGE Facingpage 90 

 Photograph by William Beebe. 



In western Burma, where the ranges of Horsfield's and the Lineated Kaleege approach or touch, 

 the jungles and lesser growth are inhabited by pheasants which show all degrees of intergradation. 

 Their voice, habits, eggs and young are all more or less alike, but on the plumage of the adult birds 

 is written their blood relationship to one or the other of their parents or more remote ancestors. 



Photogravure 23. HAUNTS AND BREEDING-GROUND OF THE LINEATED 



KALEEGE Facingpage 56 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



In central Burma, east of the Irrawaddy, we find a dense growth of small oaks, chestnuts and 

 pines. Blackberries ripen at the end of the rains, and the Lineated Pheasants come into the grassy 

 fields for berries and grubs. In the early morning it would not be difficult to approach closely, 

 were it not for the flocks of blossom-headed parrakeets which fly off screeching, spying one from 

 afar and warning every creature within hearing. 



Photogravure 24. CHINESE HAUNTS OF THE SILVER PHEASANT Facingpage 64 

 Photograph by William Beebe. 



In Fokien, near the borders of Kiangse, the pheasants of " day and night " live among wild 

 ravines and mountains. There are no large trees, and the dwarf bamboos and shrubs have been cut 

 again and again by the yellow men for fuel. But here, in company with shrikes and mynas, and a 

 flock of magpies, I found the Silver Pheasant near the rivers. 



Photogravure 25. HAUNTS OF THE MALAYAN AND BORNEAN CRESTLESS 



FIRE BACKS Facingpage 104 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



In both countries these pheasants live in dense jungle, where they have access to open clearings, 

 or at least the trails made by wild animals. Here they strive to escape their enemies, snakes and 

 civet cats, which lie in wait or creep silently through the undergrowth. And here they nest, 

 although up to the present time no white man has seen nest, eggs or young, so timid are they, and 

 so skilful in hiding their home among the swamps and tangles. 



Photogravure 26. HOME OF THE MALAYAN CRESTED FIREBACK 



Photograph by William Beebe. Facingpage 124 



In the low, dense jungle of the Malay States, in thickets of thorny tangles and enmeshed 

 vines, these birds live. To study them one must fight hosts of leeches and mosquitoes, mud and 

 rain, or, when the sun appears, the steaming heat of these breathless places. Here the bulbuls sing 

 sweetly, and gorgeous butterflies flap slowly past, and here these pheasants scratch among the dead 

 leaves for food, or walk in the shallow water of jungle creeks, drinking and catching tiny creatures 

 in the sand and gravel. 



Photogravure 27. HOME OF THE BORNEAN CRESTED FIREBACK 



Photograph by William Beebe. Facingpage 132 



The home of this bird was reached by means of a seventy-foot Dyak war canoe, in which I was 



paddled up the rivers to the inland jungles. Here, in the haunts of gaily coloured pittas, of 



glittering sunbirds and the glorious tropical orchids, these birds live and court their mates and rear 



their young. Often the first hint of their presence is the call of the cock, a low, mumbled 



Um um! Um — um ! followed by a single, sharp, keen whistle, which cuts through the warm, 



quiet air like a knife. 



