MALAY PEACOCK PHEASANT 



Polyplectron nialaccensis (Scopoli) 



Names. — Specific : malaccensis, of Malacca. English : Malay or Crested Peacock Pheasant. German : 

 Gehaubter Spiegelpfau. French : Chinquis or Eperonnier huppe. Native : Kuan chermin (Mirror pheasant), 

 kuang ranggas (dry brushwood pheasant), kuang bulan (moon pheasant), kuang ranting (twig pheasant), kuang 

 pongsu (ant-hill pheasant), merak pongsu (ant-hill peacock) : All Malayan ; kuan is typical of southern Malaya, 

 and kuang of the more northern tribes. 



Type. — Locality: Ind. orient. Describer : Scopoli. Place of Description : Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. 

 1786, pt. IL p. 93. 



Brief Description. — Male : Crest glossed with green ; bars on neck with some violet ; upper plumage 

 dark cinnamon buff, dotted with black ; ocelli on mantle, wings and tail green changing to purple ; longer tail- 

 coverts and central rectrices with confluent double ocelli ; other tail-feathers with only one ocellus on outer web ; 

 facial skin red. Female : Upper parts buff, mottled with black, ocelli on mantle and wings, spots of dull black ; 

 green ocelli on tail-coverts and tail as in male. 



Range. — Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. 



THE BIRD IN ITS HAUNTS 



Many decades will pass before the last Malayan Peacock Pheasant is driven from 

 its haunts. It is guarded so well by a myriad tropical terrors which rise at every foot 

 and dispute one's advance into its realm, that until the last mile of swamp is drained 

 and the last valley cleared of the underbrush these birds will exist, skulking about in 

 the underbrush and carrying on their small business of life hidden from all save the 

 lowly jungle folk. 



While by no means the rarest, yet this proved to be one of the most difficult of 

 the Malay pheasants to locate. Day after day we gave up to its search, finding now and 

 then a feather to keep up our hope, but taking many weary tramps to places where the 

 natives said it was common, only to find not the slightest trace. It was when I took 

 to tracking by myself that success came, and even then I had to fight my way and suffer 

 much for even a brief glimpse of the splendid birds. 



Half-way down the Pahang River, over the divide in Pahang itself, a small stream 

 enters from the north-east — the Sangei Tikham. Poling with difficulty against the swift 

 current — for the rains had set in — I passed through a maze of thousands of white, 

 feathery blossoms, alternating with impenetrable thickets of thorny rotans. Long- 

 tailed monkeys were abundant, often crossing overhead by a leap of several yards. 



Leaving the house-boat, I crossed a wide animal trail and plunged into the high 

 jungle. Here I roamed for days, and here I found the Malayan Peacock Pheasant 

 in fair numbers. 



It was a land of dreadful silences. When the sky was overcast, an hour would 

 sometimes pass with almost no sounds of life. When I left the stream I would walk 

 rapidly and silently over the sodden ground until I reached some small open space or 



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