44 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



in mid air and each stretched out his four legs to the fullest extent. Close to me they 

 dropped, both landing on the great fronds of a tree-fern. They caught hold, rested 

 panting a moment, and then vanished. 



Hardly had they gone when a distant movement caught my eye and I looked 

 intently along the ridge. There, in full view, were three Bronze-tailed Pheasants, 

 apparently looking at me, although a screen of bamboo leaves intervened. I soon 

 saw that the sudden fall of the tupaias was what had attracted their attention. As I 

 watched breathlessly, a fourth, and then a fifth bird appeared. I could not distinguish 

 the sexes, but three were adult and two half-grown young birds. 



They remained in sight about four minutes. One of the old birds never stirred 

 from the spot on which I first saw him ; head raised, alertly turning now this way, 

 now that ; tail closed and lowered, but clear of the ground. The others moved about, 

 stepping daintily and high. Two scratched for a while in the rain-washed gravel, one 

 of them soon turning its attention to a clump of yellow flowers, picking the blossoms 

 both from the stems and from where they lay fallen, and swallowing them. 



One of the adult birds in the course of its walk stepped into a spot of full sunlight 

 —the last which penetrated through the foliage from the setting sun — and for a moment 

 stretched out every feather. The body and head plumage was fluffed up, the tail spread 

 and slanted, the right wing raised, the left lowered. This position was held only for 

 a few moments, and I could not appreciate the beauties thus displayed, as the bird's 

 under-parts were toward me. It was most interesting as being the beginning courtship 

 attitude of the true Polyplectrons, and very probably of this species. In this case, 

 however, the action was merely a lazy stretching in response to the warmth of the sun ; 

 an unconscious homage to the source of all life and warmth. After preening for a short 

 time, this bird uttered a low chuckling chack — chack — chack — chack — chack ! and 

 walked slowly into a fern tangle which bordered the jungle on the opposite slope. The 

 remaining four soon followed, going in at different points, but all headed in the same 

 direction. I hastened to the crest of the ridge, but neither saw nor heard anything 

 more of the birds, though I could look far down into the damp, dark depths of the 

 ravine, through a maze of bamboo columns and the feathery tops of tree-ferns. 



From a distance came the base and treble of the wa-was, rising in wild, rollicking 

 cadence. A fraying end of cloud mist drifted past, warning me that a storm was brewing, 

 and the shrill metallic ring of the ''six o'clock bees" marked the approach of dusk. 



I knew that the wild creatures of the night were waking all about me, from the 

 tiny mouse which would soon start on its timid quest for food, to the black leopard 

 the roar of which I had heard the night before and whose fresh track I would pass on 

 the way to camp. Once I was startled by a sudden rush and squeak, but it was only 

 a spiny-haired rat fleeing from some unknown danger. The darkness settled down 

 as I reached my hammock, seeming to emphasize the many spicy jungle odours, and 

 ushering in a wind which rattled the bamboos and shook every loosened leaf to 

 the ground. 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



The Malay Bronze-tailed Pheasant, although living in the Malay Peninsula, yet 

 hardly comes into contact with the true Polyplectrou. The latter is found in the lower 



