HIMALAYAN IMPEYAN PHEASANT 121 



species of birds. They were remarkably silent, only now and then a subdued guttural 

 chuckle or a protesting whistle as one was crowded. Instead of scattering promiscuously 

 over the whole of the glade, they were concentrated along the edges of the dug-over 

 area, this being due probably to a zone of more abundant food. When a large tuft of 

 grass or bamboo was encountered, the birds dug around it and under it until it was 

 left supported by its bare roots, or in one case until it actually toppled over. The sight 

 of more than a dozen Impeyans thus engaged was most remarkable, and when the sun 

 rose upon them the colour effect was indescribable, fourteen heaving masses of blue, 

 green, violet, purple, and now and then a flash of white, set among the green of the turf 

 and the black of the newly disturbed loam. It was surprising how seldom one caught 

 a glimpse of the white lower back. Only when some unusually violent effort made 

 the bird extend a wing to keep its balance did the white gleam forth. 



The most interesting phase of the whole performance was the absence of females 

 and the fact that the Impeyans came apparently from different directions. Although 

 I could not see the birds until they actually stepped out of the trees into the glade, 

 I heard several times the loud beating of wings as if they had flown from some 

 distant point. Certain it was that the Impeyans were nesting at this time, and I 

 am equally certain that on the adjacent slopes were but two nests of these birds. 

 We can only conjecture the cause of the segregation of the males at this season — 

 a segregation which in other birds would result from combative reasons, but in these 

 marvellous feathered rainbows was inspired solely by gastronomic desires. I was 

 spying upon a veritable cafe 1 du Lophophore pour les homines settlement. I never 

 succeeded in finding a corresponding gathering of females ; never more than two or, 

 at most, three, and these were feeding in quite thick woods. 



After the Impeyan cocks had been feeding for a half-hour there arose a sudden 

 excitement ; several disappeared among the surrounding deodars, and all stopped 

 feeding and stood listening and watching for several minutes. Then feeding began 

 again, bat in a desultory way, and one by one the birds left the glade until only 

 two were left. I stretched my cramped limbs and in so doing slightly shook a branch, 

 when both birds gave a single glance in my direction and launched out over the valley, 

 uttering their screams of terror as they went. Thus ended my never-to-be-forgotten 

 seance with the Impeyans at breakfast in their native mountains. 



As regards the specific nature of the Impeyan's food, we find but little in literature. 

 One author states that "in autumn the Impeyan feeds on a grub or maggot which it 

 finds under the decayed leaves ; at other times on roots, leaves, and young shoots of 

 various shrubs and grasses, acorns, and other seeds and berries. In winter it often 

 feeds in the wheat and barley fields, but does not touch the grain ; roots and maggots 

 seem to be its sole inducement for digging amongst it." West of native Garhwal, 

 Impeyans have been observed feeding on edible mushrooms and round truffles, as large 

 as the egg of a goose, which are known as marewah. Other records include wild 

 strawberries and currants, the roots of ferns, and acorns. The few birds which I have 

 examined were mostly shot in the early morning before they had had a chance to fill 

 their crops. One had eaten several good-sized fragments of an elongated, very hard 

 tuber ; indeed, the edges of the upper mandible must perform an important function in 

 cutting and splitting vegetable tissues of such firm consistency. Close to a digging 



