BLACK-BACKED KALEEGE 35 
little drab forest butterflies. Especially do they love the grubs and larve of dung insects 
and those which live in rotten wood, and they even swallow the small millipede pill-bugs, 
armour and all. They will sometimes repair day after day to the same stump or fallen 
tree, and labour with beak and claw to penetrate into the tunnels of the hidden insects. 
Yams are also a favourite article of diet, and the pheasants will often dig quite deep holes 
and trenches in the mould of open forest glades in search of these fleshy tubers. When 
they go into the small, field-like places along the edge of the forest, the kaleege find an 
abundance of seeds of weeds, grain, and other plants, and, in addition, they eat the 
young tops of ferns and nettles, many kinds of berries, and the fruit of a Polygonum and 
a raspberry which abound in Sikhim. A female which was brought to me by a native 
shikaree had eaten many small bits of green moss, some very small fern-sprouts and a 
small turreted snail, while the stomach contained many of the reddish hairs characteristic 
of begonia leaves. A male bird shot in the late evening had been feeding exclusively on 
insects, all but one of which were moths. Among these was one large one (4rcle 
caerulea Guerrée), the remainder being smaller and of as yet undescribed species. With 
these was an enormous orange-headed wasp (Vespa magnifica Smith). 
The kaleege roosts in trees, and when once found it is easily re-located by the 
abundant sign on the ground beneath. It is seldom that a bird roosts alone, two usually 
being found sitting close together, while after the breeding season the young roost with 
their parents for many weeks. Night after night the birds return to the_identical spot, 
until, as certain sportsmen relate with evident pride, the roosting-place is discovered, 
when “‘as many as six may be shot from the tree” by the intrepid Nimrod! 
Whether this kaleege ever associates with the small deer of the jungle I do not 
know. I saw nothing of the kind. It seems well provided with enemies. A few days 
after I had watched the nesting pair of birds in their haunts I passed close to the log 
where the hen should have been sitting. A glint of white drew my attention, and parting 
the ferns I found the seven eggs*clawed out, and fragments of shell and yolk all about, 
covered now with a host of hungry ants. The havoc had been wrought the night before, 
and a little careful search showed that the self-same baloo was the villain—either the 
same bear which had passed me two days before or another of the same size. The 
footprints and signs were unmistakable. In his case, at least, there was no malice 
aforethought ; he had doubtless been searching for grubs and tubers and berries, and had 
ambled aimlessly up to the fallen tree. But the sudden apparition of his great paw, 
which he had rested on the soft moss, had sent the mother pheasant in swift, terrified 
flight. The sudden roar of wings must have brought memories of other ovivorous days, 
and we can imagine how eagerly he sniffed the eggs and clawed them out into a broken 
pile, licking the shells and his dripping paws with satisfaction. Thus had seven little 
pheasant lives come to nought. Two more days passed and then, for several mornings, 
I heard an intermittent drumming from this same patch of forest. It was undoubtedly 
the first hint of the founding of a new home. 
On the last day which I spent in this glade of the kaleege I had another most vivid 
example of the dangers to which these wild creatures are subject. I reached my favourite 
boulder at noon and lay for several hours watching the life of the jungle. At first it was 
unusually warm and quite breathless—the forest fairly steamed in the unwonted heat. 
Then a cool breeze sprang up, followed by a sudden bank of dark clouds well above the 
