Notes on the Homed Pheascmt. 195 



effects, it is well known, are frequently perceptible in looking 

 at distant shores or vessels across a considerable intervening 

 surface of water — a species of mi/rage, of which I was a frequent 

 spectator at Clevedon during the summer of 1846, especially in 

 using a little hand-telescope. 



NOTES ON THE HOBNED PHEASANT. 



BY E. C. BEAVAN, 

 Lieutenant Bengal Est., Member of Asiatic Society of Bengal. 



Having, during a two years' residence at Darjeeling, in the 

 Sikkim Himalaya, had many opportunities of observing the 

 habits of Geriornis Satyr a (Satyra melanocephala of Blyth), 

 I take the liberty of adding a few remarks to the account 

 published in the Intellectual Observes for September. 



I have seen them both in their native wilds and in captivity, 

 in fact have often been after them gun in hand, attended by a 

 single trusty Nepaul shikaree (sportsman) . I have generally 

 found them on the steep forest-clad slopes of the mountains, at 

 an elevation of from 6 to 9000 feet above the sea. They gene- 

 rally prefer the neighbourhood of water, but are, as far as my 

 experience goes, always found among the densest underwood, 

 and where the greater part of the vegetation consists of oak, 

 magnolia, ilex, etc., and the other trees of that zone. Seldom 

 seen in trees, except when disturbed by a dog, on hearing a 

 human footstep they invariably run if they can, and it is any- 

 thing but an easy matter in Sikkim to get a fair shot either at 

 these or any other of the game birds that inhabit that country. 

 When they do rise, they always fly down the side of the 

 mountain, and the momentary glimpse one gets of a scarlet 

 object between the trees, flying very rapidly, is to a man who 

 perhaps for some hours previously has been toiling on hands 

 and knees, and creeping through prickly bushes as silent as 

 possible, under such circumstances anything but satisfactory. 

 Shooting under such difficulties is therefore but little followed 

 up by the Europeans ; but those who want skins of birds, or 

 game for the table, generally hire a native, either a Lepcha or 

 a Nepal man, and they, by lying close near the known haunts 

 of the birds, and imitating their call, draw them within shot. 



These birds are generally found in pairs. The only time of 

 year that even the natives can get at them is in the winter 

 months, when the underwood is not so dense as at other times. 

 The usual plan of capturing them is by making a low hedge, of 

 about three feet high, of bushes, extending down the side of a 

 hill, like the sides of a triangle with the base open. These 



