BORNEAN ARGUS PHEASANT 147 



crepuscular or semi-nocturnal. And the hen too must be awake and on the move to 

 respond to the call. But in all other respects and in its other phases of life it is as 

 diurnal as any pheasant. It is absurd to think of the bird showing off in the blackness 

 of a tropical night, the clearing made doubly dark by the dense overarching jungle. 

 When the hen comes to the arena the male ceases his calling and gives his full attention 

 to her. They feed during the day in the jungle round about, and when they enter the 

 clearing he usually displays before her, during which performance she stretches herself, 

 arranges her plumage, and to our eyes politely bored, merely tolerates the magnificent 

 courtship, until the whim comes to walk away. Whenever she goes, the male Argus 

 accompanies her, and at night they roost close together, near or on the identical roost 

 which he uses when alone. This latter fact was not difficult to prove, as the roost is 

 almost always close to, sometimes overlooking the dancing-ground. Careful study of 

 the sign each morning tells the story of the number and position of the occupants the 

 night before. Finally, the birds mate and the hen leaves soon afterwards, perhaps 

 immediately. The calling then begins again, and continues at intervals until another 

 hen comes, or the breeding season passes. 



There is most assuredly competition, which takes place in several ways. First the 

 cocks must find, seize or make a dancing-ground ; and once being in possession, they 

 must defend it against, not only immature birds as we have seen, but undoubtedly 

 against wandering full-grown pheasants as well. And it is very doubtful that just 

 because a hen has been lured to one of these arenas by the cry of a male, that she will 

 of necessity accept the owner. There must be some quality in the cries, some dis- 

 cernible characteristic upon which choice is based, otherwise a male with an arena 

 favourably situated as to acoustic properties would monopolize all the hens entering that 

 district. If my coarse hearing could readily detect the throaty voices of the immature 

 males, regardless of their mobility, how easy it would be for the keen ear of a female, 

 attuned as it must be to this of all calls, to pick and choose. The fact that I have 

 heard as many as six adult birds calling at once shows that keen competition exists 

 here, and even if a female enters a certain clearing, if the male is not pleasing to 

 her, there is very likely to be ringing in her ears the call of another not far away. 

 So the solitary nature of these birds by no means precludes competition between 

 them. 



The Dyaks have a belief that when once a dancing-place is deserted, or the occupant 

 is killed, it will never again be occupied by an Argus, but they gave no reason for this 

 and all had received the belief at second hand. If the birds will wage fierce battles for 

 the rights to any one dancing-ground, I see no reason for believing that a wandering, 

 arenaless bird would ever scorn a ready-made but unoccupied clearing. The arenas 

 seem all to be deserted after the breeding season, as the Dyaks say that none can be 

 trapped there for several months. We can only surmise whether the same birds return 

 to their respective dancing-places, but with their strong instinct for localization, it is 

 extremely probable that this is the case. Here again is a marked opportunity for com- 

 petition, for another may have arrived before him and assumed the nine points of the 

 law. The ensuing battle is probably of the most stubborn character, for both birds 

 would be inspired by powerful emotions ; the one by actual possession of a ready-made 

 clearing, the other by memory and a reasonable sense of ownership. But whether they 



