LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURES xiii 



Photogravure 28. BORNEAN HOME OF THE WHITE-TAILED WATTLED 



PHEASANT Facingpage 150 



Photograph by William Beebe, 



On the slopes of the rolling hills of central Sarawak, in the warm jungles, sloping down to the 

 yellow rivers, these magnificent pheasants have lived for untold centuries. Only by days of the 

 most patient watching can they be seen, and more often a fleeting glimpse is all that rewards a 

 painstaking stalk. 



Beneath the tangles of soft-fronded climbing ferns, or the solid phalanx of bamboos, the birds 

 may remain hidden a few yards distant, and never be discovered. The young birds are less wary, 

 and, trusting more to their inconspicuous colouring, often come into more open spaces, to scratch 

 for food or to preen their plumage. 



Photogravure 29. WHITE-TAILED WATTLED PHEASANT . . Facingpage 160 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



In the immature White-tailed Pheasant (left) the wattles are short and inconspicuous. In the 

 adult (right) they are long and wrinkled, and at the moment of courtship capable of being 

 considerably elongated. 



The head-hunting Sea Dyaks of Sarawak are splendid hunters, and will spend days and nights 

 stalking and trapping pheasants and other birds. With the crudest kind of traps they would 

 capture the birds alive and bring them to me unharmed in wicker quakes. 



Photogravure 30. HOME OF THE RED JUNGLEFOWL . . Facingpage 174 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



In northern Burma I found the wild Junglefowl coming out to feed along the trails which lead 

 from village to village. They cluck and scratch among the turf, and take dust baths exactly like 

 our domestic fowl, and I have often found it difficult to shoot them, as the action seemed like 

 unsportsmanlike slaughter in a barn-yard. At the first hint of danger, however, they lower their 

 tails and run headlong, like pheasants, into the nearest underbrush. 



The nests are hidden away in the clumps of bamboo, a mere hollow being scratched out, or the 

 eggs deposited on the dry leaves. 



Photogravure 31. ROOSTING AND FEEDING-PLACES OF THE RED 



JUNGLEFOWL Facingpage 182 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



These birds roost high up, often on the half-bent curve of a tall bamboo, whose smooth stem 

 ensures safety from arboreal carnivores. As many as thirty birds have been seen roosting close 

 together. 



Just as tame fowl are fond of the company of barnyard cows, so the wild Red Junglefowl are 

 often seen in the vicinity of wild cattle, and I have seen them again and again feeding about buffalo 

 wallows. It is almost impossible to flush these birds. They invariably choose to escape by 

 running swiftly away, yet, when surprised by a dog, they have the ability of rising as quickly and 

 strongly as partridges. 



Photogravure 32. JAPANESE LONG-TAILED FOWL . . . Facingpage 194 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



Of all curious breeds of domestic fowl, none are more remarkable than the Japanese birds, 

 whose upper tail-coverts sometimes reach a length of over twenty feet. The feathers are kept 

 wrapped in soft paper, and the birds themselves spend a most uninteresting life in a high, narrow 

 box, fed by hand and cared for by special attendants. 



Photogravure ^z- HOME OF THE CEYLON JUNGLEFOWL . Facingpage 216 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



Along the coast of Ceylon, where the eucalyptus, acacias and mesquite abound, these 

 Junglefowl are abundant. The region is park-like, the thorn-bushes and trees alternating with 

 glades or larger open plains, dry and sandy, or with pools and grass. Here they must ever be on 

 the watch for leopards and civet cats, and at night they sleep in dense foliage on lofty limbs, well 

 out from the trunk, so that an enemy approaching along the branch would at once be detected. 



