14 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 
frequented roads. In the summer they work upward to an elevation of nine or ten 
thousand feet. Only a few individuals, however, attain the latter height, but I have 
found them in abundance at seven and eight thousand feet. 
Their fearlessness in approaching the habitations of man is in striking contrast to 
the habits of most of the pheasant family. Even though in any one region there 
may be comparatively few White-crested individuals, yet the frequency with which 
they show themselves at the edges of grain-fields and along roads may give the 
impression of a very common bird, whereas in an Impeyan country, while there may 
be many more individuals within as limited a zone, yet it is seldom that one is able 
to catch even a glimpse of more than a single bird. 
Especially in the winter months, the kaleege is to be looked for in the rather 
open forest, along the borders of the more dense jungles, in overgrown thickets near 
long-deserted cultivated patches, ruined cowsheds and even inhabited native hamlets. 
In fact it is seldom or never that ‘the bird is found in remote, isolated forests. 
Where the White-crest is, there, or in the vicinity, one may almost certainly expect 
to find the presence of man, or at least some trace of his former occupancy. One 
writer has well summed up the favourite haunts of the bird as “among the thick 
clumps of bushes and shrubs near the banks of rivers, in low valleys through which 
streams of water run, and on the slopes of hills where there is plenty of low bush 
cover, especially thorny thickets bordering on cultivation. In the early morning the 
vicinity of an old, deserted cowshed is a sure resort of this bird if anywhere in the 
neighbourhood. I have flushed this pheasant and the common red jungle-fowl 
from the same description of cover at the foot of the hills.” 
I have found the low mountain bamboo or ringal to be a favoured cover during 
the day, and in the interior of Garhwal it frequents damp evergreen forest, and the 
proximity of streams at the bottom of shady ravines. Elsewhere I have found it 
at six thousand feet in a semi-arid country, partly bare, partly covered with dense 
euphorbias, with daisies and edleweiss-like blossoms relieving the stretches of barren 
rock. Still higher it was in dense undergrowth in coniferous forest, varied with 
oak saplings, raspberries and wild rose. And finally I have flushed the White- 
crested Kaleege from an almost pure culture zone of rhododendron forest. The 
typical forest floor where these kaleege love best to wander and feed is carpeted 
with a thick matting of dead leaves, through which sprout maiden-hair ferns and 
many other species; coarse and feathery-fronded brakes; ill-smelling filmy white 
flowers, and lilies-of-the-valley giving forth the most delicate of perfumes; Solomon's 
seal, and a host of tiny deodar shoots. 
On the whole this pheasant cannot be said to be gregarious. But monogamous 
they certainly are—despite more than one accrediting of polygamy. I have never 
seen more than a pair together at the breeding season. At other times single cocks 
are not uncommonly to be met with. When three, four or more are seen associated 
the majority will be found to be birds of the year. Even when ten or a dozen 
pheasants are flushed from a single bit of woods, the association is usually accidental, 
or due to a local abundance of food. At a high altitude I once watched for several 
days a little open platform, jutting out from an evergreen forest, which was 
frequented by kaleege. On four consecutive days there were four, eight, four and 
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