154 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



dear space, taking ants or other insects from leaf or ground as she came. The male 

 birds stood for some -time apparently watching one another, then my pheasant began 

 approaching the female with quick, short steps. A moment later and the second male 

 drew slowly nearer. I was breathless with excitement. My mind ran over the few 

 meagre padded lines which represented our knowledge of these wary birds, and here 

 the good fortune of the unusual diurnal rainfall had given me this wonderful oppor- 

 tunity. The second male approached steadily and slowly, with no noticeable change 

 in his demeanour, but my bird became more and more excited as he neared the female. 

 His wings were slightly lifted from the sides of the body, although the fluffing out of 

 the plumage left no space beneath them. The head was well up and drawn back, the 

 wattles seemed very much elongated, but a careful look through the stereos showed 

 the wrinkles still evident, the apparent enlargement being due to the straightening of 

 the occipital and gular pairs, so that they no longer hung flaccid and limp. Now the 

 bird came close to the little brown hen, who edged away but without showing alarm, 

 and the moment for which I had been waiting came at last. Two complete turns my 

 male made around the hen, circling her irregularly but completely, his attitude being 

 a stiff strutting with his magnificent tail spread to the full. It was a lateral display, 

 and yet I could detect no depressing of the plumage on the side toward the object of 

 his emotion nor yet an elevating of the feathers on the farther side. The bird simply 

 progressed evenly, symmetrically, head pointing forward, but the tail-feathers forming 

 almost a semi-circle of immaculate brightness. High over the back curved the inner, 

 wide-vaned plumes, almost touching the upraised neck, while the remaining pairs 

 arched around down to the very feet, in fact, again and again they were pushed forward, 

 actually concealing the scarlet legs. The gait was peculiar, a few quick steps, then 

 immobility and a statuesque pose, again the few steps and again the hesitancy. 



At each rest the bird seemed to become actually larger, the feathers of the body 

 fluffing out so evenly and slowly that one could not avoid the idea of solidity. 

 Simultaneously, the skin of the face seemed to puff out, although this appearance 

 may have been caused by a change in colour intensity. But there was no question 

 as to the muscular extension of the wattles ; they visibly lengthened, rather spas- 

 modically, reaching their greatest extent at the moment when the bird ceased its walk. 

 I would place this extreme distention at about half the length again of the retracted 

 organ. This fact observed, I centred my attention upon the tail, and when the bird 

 slowly turned away from me I saw that the outer feathers were spread well apart 

 as well as downward, so that from the rear view it appeared as if the bird were 

 walking between the opposite sides of its tail. The normal carriage is with the 

 opposite sides of the tail closely appressed at a very acute angle ; at this time the 

 posterior view showed them spread widely at the base — tent-like. As the feathers 

 pushed forward or were relaxed an audible rustling was produced, and when the 

 bird passed over dried leaves this sound increased ; at times there were a dozen or 

 more leaves literally raked up by the stiff, recurved outer quills of the tail-feathers. 

 The supreme moment came when the hen stopped for a moment and her suitor 

 halted squarely in front facing her. With what wattle or tail accompaniment this 

 new, supreme phase would have been enacted I shall never know, for male number 

 two now approached, and both at once rushed at each other with half-spread wings, 



