WHITE-TAILED WATTLED PHEASANT 151 



of second growth, and so keep just ahead or inland of the devastating path of the 

 Dyaks. Both seem to cling closely to the rivers and creeks. Away from these aquatic 

 highways one may travel for many days and meet neither pheasants nor men. 



My first meeting with the living White-tailed Pheasant gave me an idea of the 

 keenness of observation of some of the Dyaks. On July 12, 1910, I sent my Eurasian 

 taxidermist and collector on up-river to interest a distant village of Sea-Dyaks in 

 trapping Blaiou for me. I had collected several argus and hreback pheasants, together 

 with a zebra civet and a '' moon rat," and was engrossed in preparing these specimens, 

 when two little Dyak boys came to the camp carrying a wicker cage. I gave but a 

 glance at the birds through the small interstices, and seeing what I took to be a pair 

 of immature crested firebacks, I refused to purchase them, especially as they wanted 

 an outrageous price. They carried the birds away, but while I was at tiffin they 

 returned with a Dyak from the nearest village, who said the birds were ''Blaiou wives." 

 I laughed at this, but looked again at them, and a glance at the ventral surface showed 

 that the savage was right and that they were undoubtedly immature male or female 

 White-tailed Wattled Pheasants. The three pairs of wattles were plainly distinguish- 

 able, and the paleness of the head left no doubt. One of the birds, a young female, 

 soon died, but the other lived, was perfectly tame, and for weeks thrived on its paddy. 

 Indeed, I was able to ship it from Singapore in good condition, and it lived on board 

 ship until within sight of New York City. 



From this time on we had no trouble in collecting adult and first-year birds, but 

 in several weeks' search observed no individual in the chestnut-tailed plumage of the 

 second year. In July the pheasants were all moulting heavily, and they showed no 

 signs of a recent breeding season. Indeed, the age of the immature birds indicated that 

 the nesting season, at least for these individuals, is about April in this part of Sarawak. 



The White-tailed and argus pheasants living, as I have said, usually in the 

 vicinity of the larger rivers and streams, may be found in the first, or at most the second 

 line of hills stretching back from the banks of the upper reaches of the rivers. Their 

 regular habit of leaving these dry, hilly jungles and making their way to the water 

 to drink morning and evening, unfortunately facilitates the trapping of these splendid 

 birds. The Dyaks cut a line of dense underbrush and pile it along a ridge of hills 

 parallel with the river bank, packing it closely, fence-like, uphill and down, winding 

 along for a half or even a whole mile. Every ten feet or thereabouts a converging 

 semi-circle of bamboo-sticks leads to an opening in this brush fence, and in this is 

 spread a noose attached to a bent, living sapling. Each Dyak in some of the villages 

 has from twenty to eighty of these traps, and goes his round every morning. If 

 the birds are not promptly found and removed, they are invariably devoured by civet 

 cats, although these creatures themselves are often caught, together with binturongs 

 and porcupines. 



Practically nothing is known about the nesting habits of this pheasant. Three 

 Dyaks of as many different tribes assured me that it laid only two eggs, and on two 

 separate occasions I saw what was very apparently a family of four — parents and two 

 young, so that some measure of credence may be given to this number. The only ^gg 

 of which I have knowledge is the one said to be of this species collected near Mount 

 Dulit on the Baram River, Sarawak, in September, by A. H. Everett, and now in the 



