66 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



to its instincts, had instantly come "to heel." Thus the little fellows are in constant 

 danger of being trampled by their foster-mothers, unacquainted with the jungle 

 customs of the small Eperojiiiiers. So pronounced is this attachment to the parent, 

 that the chicks may be allowed to range at large with the hen throughout the day, 

 with no danger of their straying or getting lost, as the chicks of other pheasants 

 would be almost certain to do. 



The hunger tragedy is due to another peculiarity. Ordinary chicks are accus- 

 tomed to pick up their food from the ground. Even an hour after hatching they 

 will make abortive, awkward stabs, wholly ineffectual, but soon correlating their 

 movements so that they can feed themselves even in a brooder, with no guide to 

 imitate. But the young Peacock Pheasants, for a week at least, take all their 

 nourishment from the beak of their mother, and will often stand in a dishful of 

 food, helpless until a morsel is picked up by the hen, when they rush to it and 

 pick it daintily from her beak. Some hens are faithful, and will thus feed the 

 chicks as long as they show signs of hunger, but quite as often a fowl will cluck 

 and give the chicks a small piece of food and then neglect them while she herself 

 eats, her instincts telling her that the chicks ought to be able to pick up the food 

 for themselves. 



So in rearing these birds careful watch should be kept the first week, and if 

 the hen does not feed them, it will be necessary to give them nourishment from a 

 pair of small, pointed forceps. When they have once learned to feed themselves 

 they are past the danger stage, and chase insects with great rapidity and success, 

 soon learning to fly and leap into the air as an aid to pursuit. 



It is rather difficult to distinguish the sexes in birds only a few months of age, 

 but the ocelli of the males are darker and more accentuated, and the irides of this 

 sex are lighter. 



RELATION TO MAN 



The wild Peacock Pheasants seldom come into direct contact even with the 

 natives, and the small tithe of rice which an occasional bird levies upon the paddy- 

 fields is not worth a moment's consideration. They are trapped in numbers, and in 

 the store of a Calcutta bird dealer I have seen fifty or more crates piled up at one 

 time, each with its £,peronnier awaiting shipment to Europe. Where, as in various 

 parts of Cachar, the natives from time to time make new cultivation clearings within 

 the forest, they snare these birds as they come to the edge of the open space in the 

 early morning. A sapling is bent down and a wire or cord attached to the end. 

 The other end of the string is a noose which is pegged down and spread around a 

 shallow hollow in the ground. At the bottom of this excavation a few small bits 

 of bamboo act as the treadle, and to these are tied certain red berries of which 

 the birds are very fond. A single peck at these is often sufficient to release the 

 trigger, and the sapling springs up, the noose ensnaring the bird's neck or legs. 

 When it is desired to catch the bird alive, a slender sapling is used, which allows 

 the bird to rest upon the ground, while the noose prevents its escape. In this case 

 the trap must be visited before nightfall or shortly afterwards and the bird removed. 

 But when the pheasant is wanted for eating, a stouter spring snaps the bird high 



