﻿180 
  A 
  MONOGRAPH 
  OF 
  THE 
  PHEASANTS 
  

  

  exist, 
  and 
  can 
  be 
  got, 
  His 
  Highness 
  is 
  pretty 
  sure 
  to 
  insist 
  on 
  a 
  good 
  supply 
  

   henceforth. 
  

  

  " 
  The 
  live 
  bird, 
  though 
  a 
  full-grown 
  cock, 
  became 
  perfectly 
  tame 
  in 
  a 
  few 
  days, 
  

   and 
  a 
  great 
  favourite 
  in 
  the 
  camp. 
  It 
  would 
  eat 
  bread, 
  boiled 
  rice, 
  winged 
  white 
  

   ants, 
  moths, 
  taking 
  them 
  gingerly 
  out 
  of 
  our 
  hands. 
  At 
  last 
  I 
  thought 
  I 
  really 
  had 
  

   a 
  prize 
  for 
  the 
  Zoo, 
  something 
  worth 
  sending. 
  Alas, 
  the 
  last 
  day 
  I 
  was 
  in 
  the 
  

   Eastern 
  Hills, 
  about 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  the 
  night, 
  the 
  huts 
  in 
  which 
  my 
  servants 
  were, 
  

   and 
  in 
  which 
  was 
  also 
  my 
  poor 
  pheasant, 
  suddenly 
  caught 
  fire. 
  How, 
  we 
  do 
  not 
  

   know, 
  but 
  made 
  of 
  dry 
  palm 
  and 
  cane 
  leaves, 
  they 
  were 
  like 
  tinder, 
  and 
  went 
  off 
  

   almost 
  like 
  gunpowder. 
  The 
  men 
  tumbled 
  out 
  somehow, 
  without 
  shoes, 
  clothes 
  and 
  

   bedding, 
  and 
  all 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  singed, 
  but 
  everything 
  was 
  destroyed, 
  and 
  amongst 
  

   the 
  rest 
  our 
  poor 
  pet. 
  It 
  was 
  under 
  a 
  heavy 
  wooden 
  trestle, 
  which 
  was 
  only 
  slightly 
  

   charred, 
  and 
  the 
  bird 
  itself 
  was 
  not 
  burnt, 
  but 
  had 
  only 
  had 
  its 
  feathers 
  somewhat 
  

   singed, 
  and 
  had 
  apparently 
  died 
  from 
  suffocation. 
  

  

  " 
  According 
  to 
  the 
  accounts 
  of 
  my 
  savages, 
  these 
  birds 
  live 
  in 
  dense 
  hill 
  forests 
  

   at 
  elevations 
  of 
  from 
  2,500 
  feet 
  (the 
  height 
  of 
  the 
  lower 
  end 
  of 
  the 
  Manipur 
  plain, 
  or, 
  as 
  

   it 
  is 
  miscalled, 
  valley) 
  to 
  fully 
  5,000 
  feet. 
  They 
  prefer 
  the 
  neighbourhood 
  of 
  streams, 
  

   and 
  are 
  neither 
  rare 
  nor 
  shy. 
  They 
  extend 
  right 
  through 
  the 
  Kamhow 
  territory 
  into 
  

   Eastern 
  Looshai 
  and 
  North-west 
  Independent 
  Burma. 
  

  

  "That 
  they 
  occasionally 
  stray 
  up 
  the 
  Jhiri 
  Valley 
  well 
  into 
  Manipur 
  is 
  probable 
  

   and 
  they 
  may 
  occur 
  not 
  only 
  where 
  we 
  procured 
  them 
  in 
  the 
  extreme 
  south 
  of 
  that 
  

   State, 
  but 
  also 
  probably 
  in 
  the 
  southern 
  portion 
  of 
  its 
  Eastern 
  Hills." 
  

  

  With 
  the 
  exception 
  of 
  this 
  account, 
  which 
  was 
  written 
  over 
  thirty 
  years 
  ago, 
  the 
  

   literature 
  of 
  ornithology 
  offers 
  little 
  in 
  regard 
  to 
  the 
  life 
  history 
  of 
  this 
  pheasant. 
  I 
  was 
  

   unable 
  to 
  visit 
  its 
  haunts, 
  and 
  therefore 
  did 
  not 
  see 
  the 
  bird 
  in 
  life. 
  

  

  Baker 
  records 
  that 
  Hopwood 
  and 
  Mackenzie, 
  when 
  touring 
  in 
  the 
  North 
  Chin 
  

   Hills, 
  had 
  a 
  clutch 
  of 
  eight 
  eggs 
  brought 
  in 
  to 
  them 
  in 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  April 
  1914 
  by 
  the 
  

   Chins, 
  said 
  to 
  be 
  those 
  of 
  Hume's 
  Pheasant 
  ; 
  unfortunately 
  they 
  were 
  on 
  the 
  verge 
  of 
  

   hatching, 
  and 
  it 
  was 
  only 
  possible 
  to 
  save 
  four 
  eggs 
  out 
  of 
  the 
  clutch. 
  The 
  eggs 
  were 
  

   not 
  such 
  as 
  had 
  been 
  expected, 
  so 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  with 
  the 
  greatest 
  delight 
  the 
  same 
  two 
  

   collectors 
  had 
  the 
  good 
  luck 
  themselves 
  to 
  take 
  a 
  second 
  nest 
  and 
  see 
  the 
  parent 
  bird 
  

   within 
  a 
  few 
  days 
  of 
  receiving 
  the 
  first. 
  This 
  nest, 
  which 
  was 
  found 
  on 
  the 
  1st 
  of 
  May, 
  

   contained 
  only 
  seven 
  eggs. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  following 
  year, 
  near 
  the 
  same 
  spot 
  and 
  on 
  the 
  same 
  date, 
  Mr. 
  Mackenzie 
  

   obtained 
  another 
  nest 
  with 
  ten 
  eggs, 
  while 
  on 
  the 
  20th 
  of 
  April 
  and 
  the 
  1st 
  of 
  May 
  two 
  

   other 
  clutches 
  were 
  brought 
  to 
  him 
  by 
  Chins 
  containing 
  respectively 
  six 
  and 
  seven 
  eggs. 
  

   In 
  neither 
  of 
  these 
  two 
  instances 
  were 
  the 
  parent 
  birds 
  trapped, 
  though 
  the 
  Chins 
  

   produced 
  some 
  feathers 
  to 
  support 
  their 
  story; 
  the 
  eggs 
  are, 
  however, 
  exactly 
  similar 
  

   to 
  those 
  taken 
  personally 
  by 
  Mr. 
  Mackenzie, 
  and 
  there 
  does 
  not 
  seem 
  to 
  be 
  any 
  reason 
  

   to 
  doubt 
  their 
  authenticity. 
  

  

  "All 
  these 
  eggs 
  were 
  taken 
  from 
  a 
  ridge 
  above 
  and 
  to 
  the 
  west 
  of 
  Haingyan, 
  near 
  

   Hankin, 
  at 
  an 
  elevation 
  of 
  some 
  seven 
  thousand 
  feet. 
  

  

  " 
  The 
  eggs 
  are 
  certainly 
  not 
  in 
  the 
  least 
  like 
  what 
  I 
  should 
  have 
  expected, 
  being 
  far 
  

   more 
  like 
  small, 
  fragile 
  eggs 
  of 
  the 
  jungiefowl 
  than 
  those 
  of 
  the 
  true 
  pheasants. 
  At 
  the 
  

   same 
  time, 
  even 
  if 
  Mr. 
  Mackenzie 
  had 
  not, 
  as 
  he 
  informs 
  me 
  in 
  a 
  letter, 
  on 
  the 
  one 
  

  

  