44 



A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



about me with the sweet odour of the large pink blossoms which draped the trees 

 overhead. 



I fixed my eye on a rotten log, and strived at the same time to take note of the 

 line of underbrush each side. I longed to stretch my 20° of vision to the 85° of 

 a hare ! 



Without a note or sound of approach I suddenly saw a crested head shoot up 

 from behind the log, just along the barrel of the gun, and not six feet from the end. 

 The patch of scarlet face skin shone for an instant as brilliantly as the flaming ginger 

 blossom at my feet. I pulled trigger and a cloud of leaves, splinters and earth flew 

 up and two male pheasants rose, flew ten or fifteen feet and settled again. I lay quietly, 

 and, to my surprise, the birds came nearer, cackling and gurgling excitedly. Now 

 they shifted to the right, then to the left, always out of sight down the hill. 



I knew the slightest movement of mine would alarm them, so I flattened down 

 into the spicy forest ooze and waited. They would advance a few yards, cackle, then 

 give their wing whirr softly and return. Twice when a little distance away they had 

 encounters — feinting like game-cocks and striking with their spurs. But no real harm 

 was intended, and the mock battles seemed but the result of their excitement. Finally, 

 they made a complete circle to higher ground, discovered me and ran rapidly off. 



For at least five minutes the two birds had remained within twenty-five feet of 

 where the shot had been fired. Creeping to the log, I peered over and saw my bird 

 lying dead a few feet down the slope, killed not by my shot, but by the shower of debris. 

 It was a Black-breasted Kaleege, typical in every feather. 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



The range of the Black-breasted Kaleege covers Eastern Bhutan, Assam and much 

 of Upper Burma, including Sylhet, Cachar, Hill Tipperah, Chittagong, North Arrakan 

 and Manipur. To the north it ranges throughout the terai and foot-hills of Bhutan 

 from 91° E. Long, east to at least beyond Sadiya. To the west it does not reach the 

 Brahmapootra, although this is probably due only to lack of favourable country. It 

 touches the coast in Chittagong and Northern Arrakan, extending southward to 20° or 

 perhaps 19° N. Lat. It thence ranges diagonally north-eastward until it reaches its 

 most easterly point just east of the Irrawaddy, at about 26° N. Lat. and almost 

 98° E. Long. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



The Black-breasted Kaleege is one of the most interesting of its group. It is the 

 first of the kaleege which are strung in a line along the Himalayan terai and foot-hills 

 from east to west, horsfieldi, melanonotus, leucomelanus and albocristatus. The Black- 

 breasted has a wider range than any of the others, and is notable as being one of the 

 three Gennaeus which meet in Burma, hybridize and give rise to the numerous forms 

 to which names have been given indiscriminately. 



Curiously enough it is the darkest of the allied Himalayan kaleege, while it 

 touches and crosses with the Silver forms which are the whitest. Its haunts are at 

 lower altitudes than the others, and much more humid in character. Its home range, 



