WESTERN TRAGOPAN 69 



collected together about one spot, and they descend towards their winter resorts as the 

 season advances ; but the forests are so densely crowded with long weeds and grass, 

 that they are seldom seen till about November, when it has partially decayed, and 

 admits of a view through the wood. 



" They feed chiefly on the leaves of trees and shrubs ; of the former, the box and 

 oak are the principal ones; of the latter, ringal and a shrub something like privet. 

 They also eat roots, flowers, grubs and insects, acorns and seeds, and berries of various 

 kinds, but in a small proportion compared with leaves. In confinement they will eat 

 almost any kind of grain. 



" Though the most solitary of our Pheasants, and in their native forests perhaps 

 the shyest, they are the most easily reconciled to confinement ; even when caught old 

 they soon lose their timidity, eating readily out of the hand; and little difficulty is 

 experienced in rearing them. 



"The sportsman desirous of getting the Jewar should endeavour to learn from the 

 shikaris and people of the place whether any are to be found in the neighbourhood 

 before he commences what may otherwise prove a toilsome and unsuccessful search. 

 You may hunt over very likely forests without finding a single bird, and without 

 previous information there is nothing for it but to work through every part of the wood. 

 In autumn and winter, having learnt that the birds are about, he should proceed to 

 some well-wooded locality, and after taking a survey of the general aspect of the forest, 

 direct his way to some well-wooded ravine or hollow, where the tapering summits of 

 the morenda pine may be seen towering above the rest of the forest trees, and the dense 

 and closely wooded character of the forest shuts out from a distance all view of the 

 ground. 



" Dogs are not necessary, but can do no harm if properly under control. 



"Should he pass near a spot where any of the birds are, he will soon be made 

 aware of their vicinity by their peculiar call, which they will invariably utter on his 

 approach. 



" If they begin calling while he is at a distance, or the underwood prevents their 

 being seen, though near, he should press on them as quickly as possible, and endeavour 

 to force them to rise, or try and get a shot while one is passing over some exposed spot, 

 before they conceal themselves, in which they have few equals. If they fly into the 

 trees, the particular tree into which one has flown must be well marked down, and, if 

 possible, the particular part, or it will be difficult to find it. From the thick and tangled 

 character of the woods where they generally resort, crowded and entangled with multi- 

 tudinous trunks and branches of trees, and dense clusters of tall ringal, it is seldom 

 that a fair shot can be got at them on the wing, and the only alternative is to shoot them 

 in what some will perhaps deem an unsportsman-like way, on the ground, or in the 

 trees. 



"A lot once found in any part of the forest, they may, to a certainty, be found again 

 daily at the same spot, or in its immediate vicinity, but each day they will become more 

 shy and wary, and it is useless to hunt for them on the same ground many days 

 successively, as, after being disturbed once or twice, it will be next to impossible to get 

 a shot, though many birds may be found. They will be scattered singly in widely 

 distant places ; some will keep in the trees altogether, one now and then flying off close 



