^SWINHOE'S KALEEGE 79 



the heat of the weather compelling the hunters to skin it before they could reach 

 me. It was, however, quite fresh enough to enable me to note the tints of its soft 

 parts. The fresh skin of the male arrived on the nth of April. My hunters 

 had taken this bird alive, but it battered itself so that they were obliged to kill it 

 to save its feathers. 



"... On the 8th of December I procured a fine male of Euplocomus swinhoii 

 in beautiful plumage. It was brought to me from a distant station in the interior 

 of this island, and I forwarded it to Hong-Kong, whence it was shipped to Dr. 

 Squire, at Calcutta, for the London Gardens. I trust it may arrive all safe. This 

 bird is rare, and extremely difficult to procure, as the mountain travelling here is 

 far from safe. My chief bird-hunter was nearly murdered and robbed of fifty pounds, 

 the other day, while in search of deer and this pheasant. 



"I have seen many males with a plumage intermediate to that of the adult and 

 their own sex and that of the females. This plumage is carried through the winter ; 

 but it varies in its resemblance to the one sex or the other. I thought at first that 

 such birds were melanite varieties, especially as the Chinese distinguished them by 

 a distinct name, Aw-bay-kak (black-tailed male); but I consider now that they are 

 only young males in the transition plumage, which they carry till the next vernal moult. 



'' I have been so unsuccessful in getting live examples of Euplocamus swinhoii 

 home, that I have had an aviary built here, and stocked it chiefly with birds of this 

 species. I intend to keep them for some time, to get them into thorough condition, 

 and then try further shipments. Those I have, though several months in confine- 

 ment, are still shy birds, and skulk in holes the greater part of the day. They 

 frequently utter a plaintive note ' co-co-co-<f^^,' the last a low wail, almost im- 

 possible to syllable. One fine skin of a hen I have got has a snow-white patch on 

 the crown, and a few white feathers on the side of the jaws. In other respects it 

 is normal." 



While nothing has been recorded of the nesting habits of the wild bird, its eggs 

 are well known, captive hens occasionally laying, but seldom rearing their young. 

 Swinhoe reports that a hen in his possession laid an ^gg every two or three days, 

 the first being deposited on March 17th. 



The eggs of Swinhoe's Kaleege are regular ovals, smooth, rather glossy and 

 unmarked. The shell varies from pale reddish-buff to creamy-white. They measure 

 from 48 to 55 mm. in length, and from 37 to 39 in breadth ; averaging 51 by 38 mm. 

 Swinhoe gives 61 by 48 as the measurements of an Qg<g, and adds that it is buffy- 

 cream, very minutely dotted with white. 



CAPTIVITY 



Saint-Hilaire has given us some interesting records of Swinhoe's Kaleege in the 

 Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris. The first specimens were received in 1866. The 

 following year twelve young birds were hatched, and in 1868 seventeen. In 1869 the 

 birds began to lay March 15th and ended June 25th. From four adult hens sixty-nine 

 eggs were obtained, from which fifty young birds were hatched, but on October 15th only 

 fifteen, eight males and seven females, remained alive. 



