xviii LIST OF MAPS 



Photogravure 13. NORTHERN CHINA — THE HOME OF THE BROWN 



EARED-PHEASANT Facingpage 168 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



The haunts of this bird are guarded neither by dense tropical jungles nor savage tribes, but by 

 bleak inhospitable wastes, where shelter and food are unknown. The sharp stones cut the feet of 

 the palanquin bearers until the path is bloody. To find the birds themselves, one must leave 

 all attendants behind and search day after day over the semi-barren tundras, hiding behind 

 scrubby growths of vegetation to scan every rock and shadow. 



The only inhabitants of this region are nomadic Tartars, whose sole possessions are their 

 flocks of black-headed sheep. Now and then these wandering men bring a small herd to Pekin to 

 exchange for the necessaries of life. Their fathers and grandfathers before them have done this 

 selfsame thing, have followed the dim, stony trails which converge toward the old gateway in the 

 Great Wall — until the path under the gateway has been worn smooth by the passing caravans of 

 over twenty-one centuries. Now and then the most ragged of the shepherds will have the tail 

 feather of an Eared-Pheasant stuck jauntily in his rough skin cap. 



Photogravure 14. THE HAUNTS AND THE HUNTERS OF THE BROWN 



EARED-PHEASANT . Facingpage 174 



Photograph by William Beebe, 



A thousand photographs of the home of this bird would seem to be nothing more than 

 pictures of the same place. There is nothing more to be seen than coarse grass and straggling 

 weeds, touched by scattered flowers in the spring, and covered lightly by drifting snow in the 

 early autumn. The bare rocks are lichened and have become the colour of half-frozen soil. In 

 such an environment the Eared-Pheasant lives happily and holds its own even against the Chinese 

 pot-hunter, the circling eagles and the stealthy leopards. With antiquated gun but Oriental 

 patience, the Mongol hunter pursues his game and never misses. Only the vast extent of these 

 desert regions and the wandering habits of the birds have saved them from complete extinction. 



Photogravure 15. HOME AND FEEDING GROUND OF THE WHITE 



EARED-PHEASANT Facingpage 190 



Photograph by William Beebe. 



Climbing upward from a cool, dark ravine in northern Yunnan, I passed through zones of 

 moss-hung oaks and rhododendrons to frosted, stunted willows and dwarf bamboos. Looking 

 back down the forest- covered slopes, I saw three White Eared-Pheasants step out into a glade. 

 They watched me, and they watched a great black eagle which hung high overhead, and they 

 stood poised so that they could dash to safety into the undergrowth. Finally a mist drifted across 

 the valley — a wisp of cloud as white as the birds themselves. Swiftly as it had formed, it dissolved 

 again, and when it had passed, the pheasants had vanished. 



Descending to the spot, I found their tracks at the foot of a gnarled-rooted trunk amid a 

 tangle of dying jack-in-the-pulpit and forest debris. That night, when I crawled into my 

 sleeping-bag, I knew that somewhere far off perched among the rough, knobby branches, were 

 these birds of purest white, their soft plumage matted with moisture, their heads drawn back in 

 soundest sleep. 



MAPS 



Map I. SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PHASIANINAE Facingpage xxviii 



Map II. „ „ „ BLOOD PARTRIDGES „ 4 



Map III. ,, „ „ TRAGOPANS . 46 



Map IV. „ „ „ IMPEYANS . . „ no 



Map V. „ „ „ EARED-PHEASANTS „ 160 



