WHITE-TAILED WATTLED PHEASANT 155 



and for a moment pecked viciously, but showed no inclination to use their spurs. 

 Then the Zeitgeist of the jungle, in its mysterious way sent forth to these wild 

 creatures the knowledge of danger, and with a single impulse all three fled, my 

 friend in one direction and the others near where they had emerged. There was 

 no apparent choice of companion or direction — the birds simply ran swiftly for the 

 nearest shelter, heads outstretched, tails low and close shut, the male as different 

 from his courtship attitude of a minute before as can be imagined. 



Thus passed my only opportunity for observation of the intimate life of these 

 splendid birds. This was sufficient, however, to confirm my suspicion that the worn 

 and abraded condition of the tail-feathers was not due wholly to congenital defects. 

 Judging by the recklessness of passage over sodden leaves, twigs and irregularities 

 in the debris of the jungle floor, which I observed during the courtship, it is only 

 remarkable that anything remains intact but the abraded stumps of the outer tail- 

 feathers. I have discussed the interesting correlation between the inherited defective 

 condition of the rectrices and this ontogenetic abuse of these long-suffering feathers 

 elsewhere. 



What I saw of the courtship of the White-tailed Pheasant leads me to think 

 that the general method at the start is a lateral, asymmetrical display, but the 

 finale is as certainly frontal. Whether the tail at such a moment is spread outward, 

 so as to form a white background, must be left to conjecture. If so, the courtship 

 as a whole is quite similar to that of the peacock pheasants. The short and inde- 

 cisive combat which I witnessed was suggestive only in the fact that no attempt 

 was made to use spurs, and this, taken in connection with the extreme variation and 

 at most only moderate development of these organs, would indicate that the White- 

 tails are much less given to fighting than the terribly armed fireback pheasants. 



As to the food of the White-tailed Pheasant, from examination of the crops of 

 recently killed birds, I found that they were equally insectivorous and frugivorous. 

 Ants formed by far the dominant item in their diet, a small black species being the 

 most abundant, while small crickets and other orthoptera were also not uncommon. 

 Termites were second in point of numbers, and twice I actually saw the birds feed- 

 ing about the earthen tunnels of these so-called white ants. Minute round black 

 seeds, and large pieces of some fruit of a nut-like consistence were also a favourite 

 article of diet. The Dyaks called this cacos, and said it was not edible for man. 

 These natives were also unanimous in saying that when a certain fluviatile fruit 

 became ripe, these pheasants and many of the smaller mammals came to the river 

 banks in much larger numbers than usual for the purpose of feeding on this dainty. 

 I could discover neither the fruit nor the trees which bore it. 



Until we know far more than we do at present concerning the causes of the 

 colours of organisms, we can do little else than narrow down the various questions 

 and theories by the process of elimination. In the White-tailed Pheasant, for example, 

 we have a bird which spends its life in the dense jungle, among thick underbrush, 

 where the light is constantly dim and shaded. No one will dispute that the sombre 

 colours of the female are protective among such surroundings, and even the more 

 conspicuous second-year male, with his blue-edged body pattern and chestnut-tail, 

 would merge with almost any situation in these tropical forests. But for the fully 



