34 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



feeding as fearlessly as domestic fowls, allowing one to approach within a few steps. 

 This must have been in some arcady where firearms were unknown, for all the kaleege 

 which I observed were tame only as long as they were absolutely ignorant of one's 

 presence. After that they vanished with all the speed which feet and wings could provide. 



When undisturbed, these pheasants are never found perching in the day-time, but 

 feeding or resting on the ground. If approached, but not too suddenly alarmed, their 

 mode of escape is invariably on foot, running swiftly through the underbrush, making 

 hardly a sound, and crouching so low that it is only by the merest trembling of low 

 plants and ferns that their course may be traced. When suddenly flushed on a hillside 

 they take to wing and scale downwards, or on the level along the hillside forest, skilfully 

 dodging the tree-trunks, and alighting fifty yards or more away. By circling the spot of 

 alighting they may often be again flushed. When flushed under similar conditions by 

 a dog or wild animal, they will usually fly up into a neighbouring tree and survey the 

 source of danger before leaving the vicinity. 



They are usually rather silent birds, although fond of murmuring to each other and 

 to themselves. Besides this indistinct murmur, which is given with closed beak, the 

 birds have what seems a contented cluck, a muffled tone, also through the nostrils, 

 sounding as if coming from deep within the breast, and uttered when they are quietly 

 feeding or scratching and wholly unsuspicious. This cluck is somewhat more metallic and 

 sharper than the similar note of a domestic fowl. When suspicion comes and a warning 

 is intended, a series of these clucks is run rapidly together, ending with a loud, shrill 

 screech or chirp, uttered with the beak wide open. This implies a strong suspicion of 

 danger, as I have many times observed, and either dies away, if there is no further 

 indication of impending trouble, or gives place to the silent cursorial escape, or the 

 frantic cackling of unrestrained terror accompanying winged flight. When alarmed 

 and suddenly flushed they utter a variety of notes, a loud, sharp outburst of cries, 

 a harsh cackle ; kookri I kookri ! kookri I being perhaps the one most commonly heard 

 and the one easiest of phonetic transcribing. 



In common with all his allies, the cock drums with his wings, more especially as a 

 challenge during the breeding season, but also during other seasons of the year. By the 

 natives this sound is thought to be a certain sign of rain. Its frequency just before the 

 season of the rains may be due to the synchronous occurrence of the season of courtship, 

 and in many instances at least, when the cock drums before a rainstorm, it is in direct 

 response to the thunder. Many times after a roll of thunder I have heard drum after 

 drum from first one kaleege, then another. Indeed, all pheasants seem to react 

 nervously at such a time of electric tension, and the species which lack the alar 

 manifestation of excitement crow or cackle their loudest as the reverberations of 

 thunder die away. It is almost unnecessary again -to refute the many statements 

 which have been made in regard to the method of drumming of this and other 

 kaleege pheasants. The bird never strikes its sides, as does the domestic cock, but 

 drums by quivering its wings through a narrow arc, between its sides and the level 

 of its back, the sound resulting from the air rushing between the large flight feathers. 



There are few edible morsels which come amiss to the Black-backed Kaleege. Its 

 food is varied in the extreme, and includes fruit, seeds and insects of all kinds. It will 

 pursue flying grasshoppers, moths, and I have even seen them leap into the air after the 



