14 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



frequented roads. In the summer they work upward to an elevation of nine or ten 

 thousand feet. Only a few individuals, however, attain the latter height, but I have 

 found them in abundance at seven and eight thousand feet. 



Their fearlessness in approaching the habitations of man is in striking contrast to 

 the habits of most of the pheasant family. Even though in any one region there 

 may be comparatively few White-crested individuals, yet the frequency with which 

 they show themselves at the edges of grain-fields and along roads may give the 

 impression of a very common bird, whereas in an Impeyan country, while there may 

 be many more individuals within as limited a zone, yet it is seldom that one is able 

 to catch even a glimpse of more than a single bird. 



Especially in the winter months, the kaleege is to be looked for in the rather 

 open forest, along the borders of the more dense jungles, in overgrown thickets near 

 long-deserted cultivated patches, ruined cowsheds and even inhabited native hamlets. 

 In fact it is seldom or never that the bird is found in remote, isolated forests. 

 Where the White-crest is, there, or in the vicinity, one may almost certainly expect 

 to find the presence of man, or at least some trace of his former occupancy. One 

 writer has well summed up the favourite haunts of the bird as "among the thick 

 clumps of bushes and shrubs near the banks of rivers, in low valleys through which 

 streams of water run, and on the slopes of hills where there is plenty of low bush 

 cover, especially thorny thickets bordering on cultivation. In the early morning the 

 vicinity of an old, deserted cowshed is a sure resort of this bird if anywhere in the 

 neighbourhood. I have flushed this pheasant and the common red jungle-fowl 

 from the same description of cover at the foot of the hills." 



I have found the low mountain bamboo or ringal to be a favoured cover during 

 the day, and in the interior of Garhwal it frequents damp evergreen forest, and the 

 proximity of streams at the bottom of shady ravines. Elsewhere I have found it 

 at six thousand feet in a semi-arid country, partly bare, partly covered with dense 

 euphorbias, with daisies and edleweiss-like blossoms relieving the stretches of barren 

 rock. Still higher it was in dense undergrowth in coniferous forest, varied with 

 oak saplings, raspberries and wild rose. And finally I have flushed the White- 

 crested Kaleege from an almost pure culture zone of rhododendron forest. The 

 typical forest floor where these kaleege love best to wander and feed is carpeted 

 with a thick matting of dead leaves, through which sprout maiden-hair ferns and 

 many other species ; coarse and feathery-fronded brakes ; ill-smelling filmy white 

 flowers, and lilies-of-the-valley giving forth the most delicate of perfumes ; Solomon's 

 seal, and a host of tiny deodar shoots. 



On the whole this pheasant cannot be said to be gregarious. But monogamous 

 they certainly are — despite more than one accrediting of polygamy. I have never 

 seen more than a pair together at the breeding season. At other times single cocks 

 are not uncommonly to be met with. When three, four or more are seen associated 

 the majority will be found to be birds of the year. Even when ten or a dozen 

 pheasants are flushed from a single bit of woods, the association is usually accidental, 

 or due to a local abundance of food. At a high altitude I once watched for several 

 days a little open platform, jutting out from an evergreen forest, which was 

 frequented by kaleege. On four consecutive days there were four, eight, four and 



