LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURES xi 



PHOTOGRAVURES 



Photogravure 6i. HOME OF THE GOLDEN PHEASANT . . Facing page 8 



Photographs by IVilliam Beebe. 



The steep, tumbled mountains of Szechuan, Shensi and Kansu, where the scrub bamboo 

 offers an abundance of protection, and even the wild western Chinese tribes are seldom seen, 

 the Golden Pheasant is at home. Streams rush through the bottoms of the twisting valleys, 

 winds howl around the topmost peaks of these lonely mountains, and between, on the slopes 

 and outjutting terraces, these dainty birds live and carry on their wonderful courtship ; and 

 here, upon their precious eggs, the hens sit close among the dead leaves and grass. 



Photogravure 62. HAUNTS OF THE AMHERST PHEASANT IN YUNNAN 



Photographs by William Beebe. Facing page 28 



The home of this bird is a romantic and beautiful one in the very heart of Asia. Starting 

 at a height of two miles above the sea, the melted snowflakes form most beautiful rushing torrents. 

 The steep sides of these lofty ravines are the natural pathways of the hardy pheasants, living 

 in company with bulbuls and babblers, amid orchids and trailing moss, roosting among the vines 

 and swaying branches of the Chinese mountain forests. 



Photogravure 63. HAUNTS AND NESTING-PLACE OF THE MALAY BRONZE- 

 TAILED PEACOCK PHEASANT .... Facing page ^6 

 Photographs by William Beebe. 



The home of these birds touches the extremes of sunlight and shadow, from the stream-beds 

 in the depths of the ravines, where all is dark and sunless, to the sunlit ridges where warmth and 

 brilliance pervade all things. Here among golden and azure blossoms the Bronze-tails live. 



At an elevation of thirty-two hundred feet in the mountains of Pahang, near a rocky defile, 

 half-way up a steep slope, was the spot where a Bronze-tailed Peacock Pheasant had made its 

 nest. Only broken eggshells remained, half sunken into the moss and leaves between two great 

 fallen trees. 



Photogravure 64. HOME, AND THE NEST AND EGGS OF THE GREY OR 



BURMESE PEACOCK PHEASANT . . . Facing page 60 



Photographs by William Beebe. 



During the height of the rains the hen Peacock Pheasants retire to the deepest, most secluded 

 parts of the jungle ; perhaps in some dense bamboo tangle. Here, on the ground, among ferns 

 and moss and fallen leaves, she lays two white eggs, which are so conspicuous that they would 

 attract every hostile eye, were it not that she sits close for three weeks, her brown mottled hues 

 merging perfectly with the surrounding vegetation. 



Photogravure 65. LATERAL COURTSHIP DISPLAY OF THE PEACOCK 



PHEASANT Facingpage 62 



Photographs by D. Seth- Smith. 



The courtship of this bird is one of the most remarkable among birds. It combines the 

 methods of the others. The first phase is a lateral display, like that of the junglefowl and 

 typical pheasants, the cock approaching the hen from the side, and flattening itself to right or 

 left in the direction of the object of its courtship. 



Photogravure 66. FRONTAL COURTSHIP DISPLAY OF THE PEACOCK 



PHEASANT Facingpage 64 



Photographs by D. Seth- Smith. 



As the courtship reaches its height the male assumes a frontal position, and increases the 

 arc of spread of the wings and tail until they form a continuous circular fan of ocellated 

 feathers, extending to the very ground on both sides. The hen is affected neither by the 

 aesthetic beauties of this wonderful display, r.or the regularity of form or pattern, but apparently 

 by some subconscious reaction to the continued repetition of the courtship performance. 



