﻿52 
  A 
  MONOGRAPH 
  OF 
  THE 
  PHEASANTS 
  

  

  chuck! 
  It 
  was 
  beyond 
  human 
  endurance 
  to 
  lie 
  perfectly 
  motionless 
  for 
  more 
  than 
  

   ten 
  minutes 
  under 
  such 
  scrutiny, 
  and 
  some 
  involuntary 
  movement 
  on 
  my 
  part 
  sent 
  

   the 
  birds 
  back 
  with 
  a 
  rush 
  to 
  shelter. 
  As 
  they 
  showed 
  no 
  signs 
  of 
  emerging 
  again 
  

   I 
  sat 
  up 
  and 
  slid 
  down 
  towards 
  them. 
  It 
  was 
  as 
  if 
  I 
  had 
  fired 
  some 
  hidden 
  mine. 
  

   In 
  a 
  twinkling 
  the 
  air 
  was 
  alive 
  with 
  feathered 
  bombs, 
  and 
  Hume's 
  experience 
  came 
  

   .vividly 
  to 
  mind 
  when 
  a 
  wounded 
  Cheer 
  struck 
  him 
  full 
  in 
  the 
  face 
  and 
  almost 
  

   knocked 
  him 
  down 
  a 
  precipice. 
  With 
  wide-flaring, 
  streaming 
  tails, 
  the 
  birds 
  whirred 
  

   past 
  me 
  ; 
  several 
  from 
  my 
  very 
  feet 
  shooting 
  out 
  and 
  downward 
  like 
  rockets, 
  others, 
  

   which, 
  all 
  unknown 
  to 
  me, 
  must 
  have 
  been 
  crouched 
  only 
  a 
  few 
  feet 
  uphill 
  from 
  

   where 
  I 
  had 
  been 
  lying, 
  sprang 
  into 
  the 
  air 
  and 
  veered 
  past 
  me 
  on 
  either 
  side. 
  I 
  had, 
  

   in 
  fact, 
  all 
  unwittingly 
  blundered 
  into 
  the 
  very 
  heart 
  of 
  a 
  good-sized 
  covey, 
  and 
  

   stopping 
  when 
  I 
  did 
  I 
  had 
  only 
  sent 
  them 
  into 
  hiding. 
  So 
  instantaneous 
  was 
  the 
  

   outburst 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  not 
  until 
  the 
  last 
  bird 
  had 
  vanished 
  that 
  I 
  realized 
  and 
  

   appreciated 
  what 
  a 
  wonderful 
  sight 
  had 
  been 
  vouchsafed 
  me 
  : 
  a 
  half-score 
  of 
  great 
  

   birds 
  suddenly 
  springing, 
  like 
  Jason's 
  dragon 
  warriors, 
  from 
  the 
  very 
  earth 
  and 
  

   hurling 
  themselves 
  with 
  utter 
  recklessness 
  into 
  the 
  vast 
  space 
  of 
  the 
  great 
  valley. 
  

   How 
  any 
  strength 
  of 
  quill 
  could 
  ever 
  regain 
  the 
  apparent 
  lost 
  balance 
  and 
  break 
  the 
  

   force 
  of 
  that 
  bullet-like 
  abandon 
  to 
  gravity 
  was 
  inexplicable. 
  I 
  looked 
  about 
  me 
  with 
  

   added 
  interest 
  and 
  marked 
  the 
  spot 
  for 
  future 
  visits. 
  

  

  As 
  I 
  made 
  my 
  way 
  obliquely 
  downward, 
  the 
  rays 
  of 
  the 
  low 
  sun 
  fired 
  the 
  red 
  

   boulders, 
  turning 
  them 
  to 
  blazing 
  copper 
  in 
  contrast 
  to 
  the 
  black-green 
  forests 
  

   below. 
  Not 
  a 
  note 
  came 
  from 
  the 
  distant 
  scattered 
  covey, 
  although 
  I 
  listened 
  long 
  

   and 
  carefully. 
  The 
  bare 
  upper 
  heights 
  were 
  silent, 
  deserted. 
  Only 
  from 
  the 
  deodars 
  

   came 
  a 
  vesper 
  duet 
  ; 
  now 
  and 
  then 
  the 
  sweet, 
  sibilant 
  tones 
  of 
  a 
  whistling 
  thrush, 
  

   clear-cut 
  and 
  thrilling, 
  to 
  the 
  low, 
  muffled, 
  running 
  accompaniment 
  of 
  the 
  cooing 
  of 
  

   doves 
  preparing 
  for 
  the 
  night, 
  somewhere 
  in 
  the 
  heart 
  of 
  the 
  great 
  Himalayan 
  forest. 
  

  

  GENERAL 
  DISTRIBUTION 
  

  

  The 
  range 
  of 
  the 
  Cheer 
  Pheasant 
  is 
  a 
  very 
  limited 
  one. 
  It 
  is 
  usually 
  given 
  as 
  the 
  

   North-western 
  Himalayas, 
  but 
  this 
  is 
  true 
  only 
  in 
  a 
  restricted 
  sense. 
  I 
  know 
  of 
  no 
  

   record 
  far 
  in 
  Kashmir 
  to 
  the 
  north-west, 
  while 
  from 
  here 
  eastward 
  it 
  is 
  quite 
  abundant 
  

   in 
  Chamba, 
  Kumaon, 
  Garhwal, 
  and 
  a 
  number 
  of 
  the 
  lesser 
  Hill 
  States. 
  In 
  Nepal 
  it 
  

   extends 
  farther 
  eastward 
  than 
  Hume 
  thought, 
  and 
  there 
  are 
  records 
  as 
  far 
  as 
  the 
  Gandals 
  

   River. 
  Even 
  this, 
  however, 
  gives 
  it 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  narrowest 
  areas 
  of 
  pheasant 
  distribution, 
  

   and 
  when 
  we 
  remember 
  that 
  within 
  this 
  circumscribed 
  habitat 
  the 
  birds 
  are 
  found 
  only 
  

   between 
  four 
  and 
  ten 
  thousand 
  feet 
  elevation, 
  we 
  realize 
  to 
  how 
  sharply 
  demarcated 
  a 
  

   zone 
  of 
  the 
  earth's 
  surface 
  a 
  single 
  isolated 
  species 
  of 
  large, 
  non-migrating 
  bird 
  may 
  be 
  

   confined. 
  This, 
  too, 
  not 
  upon 
  an 
  island, 
  but 
  in 
  the 
  heart 
  of 
  a 
  great 
  mountainous 
  region 
  

   most 
  of 
  which 
  would 
  seem 
  to 
  offer 
  suitable 
  haunts 
  for 
  the 
  pheasant. 
  Cheer 
  show 
  a 
  

   seasonal 
  migration 
  downward 
  from 
  January 
  to 
  March, 
  being 
  forced 
  from 
  the 
  bare 
  heights 
  

   in 
  winter 
  by 
  the 
  snow. 
  

  

  GENERAL 
  ACCOUNT 
  

  

  I 
  had 
  the 
  Cheer 
  Pheasant 
  under 
  observation 
  for 
  only 
  a 
  very 
  few 
  weeks, 
  and 
  hence 
  

   can 
  speak 
  of 
  it 
  at 
  first 
  hand 
  during 
  but 
  a 
  limited 
  portion 
  of 
  its 
  annual 
  life. 
  Hume 
  

  

  