GOLDEN PHEASANT 7 



other pheasants. It is with the utmost difficulty that they are forced to take wing, 

 choosing invariably to scurry away. When surprised on a bit of open ground they will 

 sometimes partly open their wings and thus aid their running by a sort of half glide. 

 Once only I saw a cock leap up and fly over a low ridge of rock some ten feet high, 

 flapping rapidly, the wings appearing remarkably rounded and concave. When the 

 highest point was reached, the usual pheasant scaling was resorted to, carrying the bird 

 many yards down among the bamboo scrub. The sun was shining and the golden, 

 orange and scarlet of the flying bird shone with the greatest intensity. The flight, 

 judging from captive birds, is weak and irregular, and when we realize what a 

 conspicuous object such a volplaning bird is when silhouetted against the green 

 vegetation or even brown rocks, the danger of even a brief flight is apparent. 



The gait of this pheasant is of the most dignified description, the steps long and 

 high, and the whole mien dainty and high-bred. Every movement indicates caste, as its 

 wonderful ornaments, patterns and colours designate it as one of the most highly 

 specialized of all its family. The harsh double crow is characteristic of the breeding 

 season and, as Chinese farmers assured me, is seldom heard at other seasons than the 

 spring. Except for low clucking calls between the sexes or between birds of the year I 

 heard no other notes. The birds are not apparently gregarious even in the winter, and 

 appear to live in pairs, or possibly sometimes in trios, throughout the year. 



Nothing has been recorded of the food of this bird. I found the birds in three 

 different localities feeding chiefly on the leaves and buds of a small shrub, on the newly 

 sprouting leaves and buds of dwarf bamboo, and on the flowers of an azalea-like plant 

 respectively. The two latter had also remains of spiders and insects, especially small 

 coleoptera. 



I ran down two roosts of Golden Pheasants, both being in pine trees not over 

 twelve feet above the ground, and on horizontal branches half-way between the trunk and 

 the extremity. In one tree two birds roosted on opposite sides, and in the other case at 

 least a pair were roosting side by side. The sign showed that the latter had been 

 occupied for many weeks. I could also be certain that the birds faced sometimes in 

 one direction, sometimes in the other, adapting themselves perhaps to the direction of 

 the wind. 



The eyes, and secondly the ears, are the faculties upon which these birds rely for 

 detecting the approach of danger. Several times I have had a pair of birds in the field 

 of view of my binoculars, far across a valley and yet in full sight, when I had my 

 assistant slowly rise to his feet and walk along the ridge. The effect on the birds was 

 most interesting. His very first movement was, of course, detected. When they were 

 close to bamboo scrub they plunged headlong into it and vanished. If we gave no more 

 signs of life, in five or ten minutes they would emerge from the opposite side, but would 

 watch us closely for a long time as they fed slowly along the hillside. 



When the pheasants were some distance from cover, among rocks, the cock followed 

 the same tactics, zigzagging swiftly back and forth among the stones and boulders, 

 until the green vegetation eclipsed his brilliance. In this case, however, the hen squatted 

 instantly and remained so as long as there seemed any suspicion of danger. I never 

 saw a hen run more than about five yards to cover. When farther in the open she would 

 invariably choose to squat, and indeed had I not already had her marked down I should 



