58 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



Finally my further advance was absolutely barred by an impenetrable tangle of 

 massed thorn palms, and I descended to the bottom of the narrow valley. Here was 

 a trickle of water, sometimes seeping beneath the surface or floAving through a shallow 

 bed of ooze. I saw something glisten through a growth of tall swamp plants, and a 

 closer glance showed the rounded, mud-dripping back of a great water buffalo, or so it 

 seemed. Now and then a great sigh or snort of satisfaction came from the creature and 

 the water soused over the massive slate-coloured hide. I approached no closer, for I 

 had already been treed more than once by these uncertain beasts. But before I began 

 to make a detour to windward a movement of the animal flattened several intervening 

 stalks, its head came into plain view, and I was astonished to see, not a pair of bovine 

 horns, but a unicorn— a rhinoceros ! I had never expected to see one of these tropical 

 creatures in this northern region, and could hardly believe my eyes. 



Another surprise came quickly, as a Grey Peacock Pheasant stepped fearlessly from 

 the palm-covered slope toward the beast. The rhino rolled and snorted, and must have 

 spattered the bird with drops of water, but calmly keeping on its way, the pheasant 

 reached the stream a few yards above the wallowing animal, drank again and again, and 

 stepped daintily off into the jungle undergrowth with not a backward glance. It was 

 probably accustomed to the presence of gaur or " bison " in this region, and saw no 

 difference in this interesting stray from the south. The natives hereabouts had known 

 of no rhinoceros for the last eleven years. I shall never forget the fearlessness of the 

 beautiful bird so close to this great fearsome beast. After watching it for some time I 

 crept respectfully around and went on my way toward my hiding-place near a well-worn 

 jungle route of kaleege pheasants. 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



The term " Indo-Chinese countries," which is usually given as the habitat of this 

 species, is very indefinite. But we have indeed comparatively few definite records as to 

 the occurrence of the Grey Peacock Pheasant on the borderland of its range. To the 

 north of the Brahmaputra it is found in the foothills of the Bhutanese Himalayas and as 

 far to the westward as the terai below Darjeeling. In India to the southward it has not 

 been recorded west of this river, but is widely distributed throughout Assam, the Garo, 

 Lushai, Khasia and Naga Hills, and in Manipur, Sylhet, Cachar, Hill Tipperah, Chitta- 

 gong, Arakan, Pegu and Tenasserim as far south as Mergui. It is found in upper 

 Burma and in western Yunnan and the Shan States, but in these two latter regions it 

 apparently does not cross to the eastward of the Salwin River. This is not true farther 

 south, for it occurs in the Laos States of western Siam — how far inland we do not know, 

 but I have no certain record east of the Menam River. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



The Peacock Pheasants as a group are denizens of deep tropical forests, and for 

 this reason many phases of their life history must always be shrouded in uncertainty or 

 be gleaned piecemeal from their habits in captivity. We have, for instance, little or no 

 idea of their home range or of seasonal migration. It is an impossibility to follow any 

 individual for more than a few yards at a time. The favourite haunts of these birds are 

 the hill forests, and if they stray to the plains it is only in dense jungled regions. Along 



