18 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 
cases the birds were not near the main trunk, but a foot or more out on some horizontal 
bough, and in all instances but one the bird was alone. 
I have mentioned the laughing thrush as an effective, if wholly unintentional, 
benefactor of the White-crested Kaleege. As to enemies, one can certainly include the 
pine marten, wild cats and several species of hawk eagles, Wzeraétus and Spizaétus, and, 
perhaps worst of all, as far as the despoliation of the nests is concerned, the grey langur 
monkeys, which swing through the conifers like a rushing hurricane, leaping and hurling 
themselves from tree to tree as recklessly as if the tall, narrow spires of the firs made as 
easy travelling as the wide-branched deciduous forests of lower altitudes. I once found 
a few bloody tail-feathers of a cock kaleege beside a log with no hint of the murderer— 
probably some owl—and twice I found remains of broken egg-shells near nests with the 
clearly-marked footprints of the langurs all about. 
Man is, undoubtedly, the worst enemy the White-crested Kaleege has at present, 
and the bird is becoming scarce in many of its haunts which are accessible to the 
multitude of military and civilian sportsmen. The birds learn after a while, however, to 
gauge the danger of their opponents, and then, we read, “they are not birds that, as a 
rule, afford much sport; you may see a dozen together feeding in the early morning on 
one of the ‘perows’ or encamping grounds, in the Siwaliks of the Dhtn, and you may 
bag a couple; but even with good dogs to help you, they run so fast and fly so far that 
long and weary will be your hunt before you bag a second couple out of that same dozen 
after you have once fired. In fact, in such places, unless one has been marked into some 
neighbouring tree, when you will generally get a shot, it is best to go on sharp, as a 
quarter of a mile further on, on frequented roads like this, you will meet with others 
along the track, to which the horse-droppings, containing undigested grain, attract 
them. I have in old days shot four or five brace in an hour in the early morning on the 
road and ‘perows’ when encamped in the Mohan or Lal Darwaza Pass, through which 
runs the main road to Dehra and Mussooree. 
‘Generally in the hills you may pick up three or four birds in a day, by beating all 
likely-looking patches of cover near fields, but it is rare with this species to make a good 
bag. There are, however, places where you may come across the kaleege almost as thick 
as pheasants ina Norfolk cover. Such places there used to be close to Bhim Tal and 
Naukuchia Tal, small lakes not far from Naini Tal, but at a much lower level, and at the 
former of these I once, early in November, killed eleven and a half brace in less than 
three hours.” Many more records of a bird shot every eight minutes for three 
consecutive hours will leave but few of these unfortunate pheasants for the delight of 
posterity. 
Speaking of the kaleege in the lower ranges, Wilson says: “In the lower hills, in 
the absence of larger game, this bird may serve to while away a few hours of the 
sportsman’s time in almost every place where there is wood or jungle; narrow, well- 
wooded ravines and thickets of low jungles are the places in which to seek it. A good dog 
is essential ; and without one, though a bird may be occasionally picked up, it is hardly 
worth while going out. In travelling in the interior a dog used to hill-shooting should 
always, if available, be brought ; and with its assistance a few kaleege may be bagged in 
some of the coppices and jungle passed through almost every day’s march, till the regions 
where larger game is expected are reached.” . 
