i8 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



cases the birds were not near the main trunk, but a foot or more out on some horizontal 

 bough, and in all instances but one the bird was alone. 



I have mentioned the laughing thrush as an effective, if wholly unintentional, 

 benefactor of the White-crested Kaleege. As to enemies, one can certainly include the 

 pine marten, wild cats and several species of hawk eagles, Hieraehts and Spizaetus, and, 

 perhaps worst of all, as far as the despoliation of the nests is concerned, the grey langur 

 monkeys, which swing through the conifers like a rushing hurricane, leaping and hurling 

 themselves from tree to tree as recklessly as if the tall, narrow spires of the firs made as 

 easy travelling as the wide-branched deciduous forests of lower altitudes. I once found 

 a few bloody tail-feathers of a cock kaleege beside a log with no hint of the murderer — 

 probably some owl — and twice I found remains of broken egg-shells near nests with the 

 clearly-marked footprints of the langurs all about. 



Man is, undoubtedly, the worst enemy the White-crested Kaleege has at present, 

 and the bird is becoming scarce in many of its haunts which are accessible to the 

 multitude of military and civilian sportsmen. The birds learn after a while, however, to 

 gauge the danger of their opponents, and then, we read, " they are not birds that, as a 

 rule, afford much sport ; you may see a dozen together feeding in the early morning on 

 one of the ' perows ' or encamping grounds, in the Siwaliks of the Dhtln, and you may 

 bag a couple ; but even with good dogs to help you, they run so fast and fly so far that 

 long and weary will be your hunt before you bag a second couple out of that same dozen 

 after you have once fired. In fact, in such places, unless one has been marked into some 

 neighbouring tree, when you will generally get a shot, it is best to go on sharp, as a 

 quarter of a mile further on, on frequented roads like this, you will meet with others 

 along the track, to which the horse-droppings, containing undigested grain, attract 

 them. I have in old days shot four or five brace in an hour in the early morning on the 

 road and ' perows ' when encamped in the Mohan or Lai Darwaza Pass, through which 

 runs the main road to Dehra and Mussooree. 



" Generally in the hills you may pick up three or four birds in a day, by. beating all 

 likely-looking patches of cover near fields, but it is rare with this species to make a good 

 bag. There are, however, places where you may come across the kaleege almost as thick 

 as pheasants in a Norfolk cover. Such places there used to be close to Bhim Tdl and 

 Naukuchia T41, small lakes not far from Naini Tdl, but at a much lower level, and at the 

 former of these I once, early in November, killed eleven and a half brace in less than 

 three hours." Many more records of a bird shot every eight minutes for three 

 consecutive hours will leave but few of these unfortunate pheasants for the delight of 

 posterity. 



Speaking of the kaleege in the lower ranges, Wilson says : " In the lower hills, in 

 the absence of larger game, this bird may serve to while away a few hours of the 

 sportsman's time in almost every place where there is wood or jungle ; narrow, well- 

 wooded ravines and thickets of low jungles are the places in which to seek it. A good dog 

 is essential ; and without one, though a bird may be occasionally picked up, it is hardly 

 worth while going out. In travelling in the interior a dog used to hill-shooting should 

 always, if available, be brought ; and with its assistance a few kaleege may be bagged in 

 some of the coppices and jungle passed through almost every day's march, till the regions 

 where larger game is expected are reached." 



