ANNAM OCELLATED PHEASANT 103 



searching actively about. The native wild Moi say that they can easily rear the young, 

 but that they are not successful in keeping alive the adults. Three or four were brought 

 to Renaud, and in spite of the wounds made by the snare and the fatigue of the journey, 

 they were saved and kept in good health for two months. 



They seem to be of a gentle nature, hardly alarmed by visitors, taking food and 

 drink a few minutes after being liberated in their enclosure. They were never seen to 

 resent persecution from other inmates of their runway. 



These captive birds would call morning and evening, just as if they were in the 

 jungle. This call is "absolument rhythme comme celui du Paon, mais il est doux, 

 harmonieux, agreable a I'oreille, tout en restant tr^s retentissant." When they give it 

 high up in some venerable tree it can be heard at a great distance, and always attracts 

 the attention of the traveller. When walking about on the ground it utters a low, 

 gentle note, sounding like rroue, rooue. 



Its calls become more frequent in March and April. At the time of courtship it 

 selects a flat, clear piece of ground, close to the foot of a great tree. The female remains 

 perched upon a branch while the male displays and struts about on the ground. The 

 eggs are larger than those of a fowl, but, like them, are pure white. The female does 

 not make any special nest. When the young are a few days old they perch on the lower 

 branches, the only ones which their juvenile weakness will permit them to reach. The 

 mother roosts at their side. When the young leave their parents they continue to live 

 together for some time. 



The native Moi hunt them constantly, being very fond of their flesh. Their 

 methods of hunting are very simple. When a number of them discover a pheasant in 

 high, dense jungle where there is little thick undergrowth, they give instant chase. The 

 bird, restrained by its long tail, has not time to take to flight ; the running soon exhausts 

 it, and it falls into the hands of the natives. The birds are also shot with poisoned 

 arrows, but the usual method is the use of a snare or trap. This is often used at the 

 season of courtship, when the male easily falls a victim during his preoccupation in 

 displaying. The female, usually perched in a tree, is seldom snared, and this explains 

 the difficulty of securing specimens of this sex. The natives of Annam call this bird 

 7>/, the syllable being spoken with an intonation peculiar to their language which 

 cannot be graphically represented. 



The account of the capture of the birds by running them down is open to consider- 

 able doubt and is probably based on the story of a native. There is no reason why the 

 Annam bird should be any less fleet of foot than its Malayan representative or the 

 argus. 



DETAILED DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male. — All the head feathers, except the ear-coverts and the occipital crest, 

 are short. Feathers of the forehead and crown velvety, brownish black. Lores, a broad 

 superciliary and lower cheeks greyish white. Facial area thickly covered with brownish 

 black featherlets. Ear-coverts dark brown. From the occiput and nape arises a semi- 

 erect, elongated crest, curving backward, the feathers stiffened basally, fine and silky 

 toward the tips. Anteriorly the feathers are dark rufous, becomimg paler and greyer 

 posteriorly until those growing on the nape are glistening silky white. 



