BORNEAN ARGUS PHEASANT 139 



their haunts, I made camp and began my crusade. The first thing was to locate the 

 dancing-grounds of as many as possible. Disappointment followed many heart-breaking 

 trips. Day after day I tramped up- and down-hill, stumbling along through moss and 

 mould which had apparently not been disturbed since the creation, or cutting my way 

 through a plexus of cruel rotan thorn palms, living mazes of interlaced vegetable skeins, 

 studded with recurved fish-hooks innumerable. 



I soon found, as I had expected, that an umbrella tent was useless when erected 

 near a dancing-ground. If I could have remained for a month, and allowed the cloth to 

 become weathered by rain and sun and to become veritably like a mossy growth of the 

 jungle, I could doubtless have crept into it and caught the bird off guard. This was not 

 feasible, so I made one half-hearted attempt and gave it up. My other two plans differed 

 as widely as possible from one another ; in brief, one was to conceal myself well above 

 the ground and the other underground ! and both proved to be well worth the trouble it 

 took to put them into execution, and I am looking forward to still greater success in the 

 future. When I found a dancing-ground which was being used I made three or four 

 rough bundles of branches and fronds, wrapped them up in cloth and perched them from 

 eight to twenty feet above the ground in surrounding trees. I chose spots on large 

 horizontal branches, close to the trunks. There I left them for two or three days, then 

 by scattering leaves about the dancing-place I tested whether the Argus was still 

 there. 



After two disappointments I found all the leaves cleared away from one chosen 

 arena, and knew that the bird had returned and, as I suspected, was the author of the 

 calling which had come from that direction the evening before. That afternoon I went 

 to the dancing-ground with two Dyaks, going noisily, or at least with no effort to 

 conceal our approach. As rapidly as possible, I changed places with one of my arboreal 

 bundles, wrapping myself up and crouching close to the trunk. I took the precaution 

 to run out two guy lines so I should not have to bother about balancing. I assumed 

 the position which long experience in my umbrella tent had taught me could be 

 maintained for the greatest period of time with the least amount of physical discomfort. 

 Then, according to directions, the Dyaks left, making their way obtrusively, in the 

 opposite direction of our approach. My theory was that on our arrival the Argus would 

 at once run off, but perhaps remain within earshot. Its keen ears having detected the 

 approach of some unknown disturbers of the jungle, the bird would afterward note their 

 passage on and away from the arena. If it should then return I trusted to its acceptance 

 of the slightly changed aspect of one of the green bunches of vegetation, the innocuousness 

 of which had been proved by forty-eight hours of vegetable-like quiescence. 



The sudden success of my plan fairly startled me, for my men had not been gone 

 fifteen minutes when, through a peep-hole, I detected an Argus Pheasant approaching. 

 A second glance showed the short wing and tail-feathers of a female. It approached 

 with every sense alert, looking not once up to where I and my fellow-bundles were 

 perched, but all around through the jungle and especially behind. A male Argus now 

 appeared, and in my excitement I could hardly keep quiet. It seemed as il my pulse 

 must set the whole tree to shaking, and I would not have been surprised to see all the 

 leaves quivering like aspens. I longed to draw out these moments and to fix them so 

 that I could share them with all who sympathize with such a tremendous moment of 



