WHITE-CRESTED KALEEGE 21 



quantity of debris than usual, the nest measured nearly a foot across, four inches deep 

 outside, while the central depression was six inches wide and nearly two inches deep. 

 When the ground is covered with a thick carpet of dead leaves, no additional matter is 

 gathered, or again, where a slight hollow, either natural or scratched in the ground by the 

 birds, is utilized, a mere lining skin of grass or leaves is present. The situation of the 

 nest is varied, and conforms only to very general requirements. The more usual locations 

 are as follows : 



I. — Placed under the shelter of tufts of large, overhanging ferns ; coarse, tall grass, or 

 the slender dwarf ringal or hill-bamboo, on rather open hillsides. 



2. — Among sapling growths with plenty of underbrush, close under the shelter of an 

 overhanging stone, thick, low bush or tuft of grass. 



One unusual situation is noted by Captain Cock, who says that the eggs are laid, " as 

 a rule, on the ground under a rock or bush ; but I have taken a nest on a large bough of 

 a tree, in a hollow on the upper side of which the eggs were placed." There seems 

 absolutely no significance in this as hinting of a tendency toward arboreal habits like 

 those of the Tragopans, as the Gennaeus group of pheasants is essentially a terrestrial 

 one in every way. 



The experience of many observers shows that the number of eggs ranges from eight 

 to fourteen, with the more usual number about nine. The hen incubates for a period of 

 about twenty-six days, and during this period her dependence upon her leaf-brown 

 coloration is almost absolute. A dog may approach, and detect her, not by scent, but 

 by blundering upon the sitting bird, and may seize her before she will leave. Several 

 writers and sportsmen testify to having approached with great care and actually placed 

 their hand upon and caught the hen as she sat rigid — held to her home by her mother 

 love, a performance, let us hope, which was followed by the setting free immediately 

 of the too-trusting bird. The fact is of great interest, however, as emphasizing the 

 unconscious faith which the bird places in its hues of brown and buff. The cock bird is 

 never far away, and when the hen is threatened by a dog or other animal, the male will 

 fly into a tree and cackle loudly. 



At the end of the long period of incubation the chicks emerge, escaping through the 

 neatly-severed top of the tgg, and leave the nest almost at once. When the brood leaves 

 the vicinity, the male at once attaches himself to his family, and during the period of 

 growth of the chicks the two parents are invariably found close together with them. 

 Later, when the wings of the young birds allow them to fly up into the branches, the 

 entire family roosts together in the same tree, and not until the birds of the year are 

 full-sized do they drift apart from their parents and begin to forage for themselves. It 

 is now that the young pheasants of several families seem to feel a drawing toward one 

 another, and although they usually roost singly, they may often be found feeding 

 together or working through the undergrowth in company in the daytime. 



Unusually late broods which have been observed are unquestionably due to the first 

 nest having been destroyed by hail or monkeys or some other agency, and not to the fact 

 that this pheasant ever rears two broods in one season. 



The eggs are regular ovals, only moderately elongated, and quite pointed at one end, 

 bearing in shape a closer resemblance to the eggs of the European partridge and peahen 



