THE WESTERN TRAGOPAN. 1 47 



" They feed chiefly on the leaves of trees and shrubs ; of the 

 former, the box and oak are the principal ones ; of the latter, 

 ringal and a shrub something like privet. They also eat roots, 

 flowers, grubs and insects, acorns and seeds, and berries of various 

 kinds, but in a small proportion compared with leaves. In 

 confinement they will eat almost any kind of grain. 



" Though the most solitary of our Pheasants, and in their 

 native forests perhaps the shyest, they are the most easily 

 reconciled to confinement ; even when caught old they soon 

 lose their timidity, eating readily out of the hand ; and little 

 difficulty is experienced in rearing them. 



" The sportsman desirous of getting the Jeivar should endea- 

 vour to learn from the shikaris and people of the place whether 

 any are to be found in the neighbourhood before he commences 

 what may otherwise prove a toilsome and unsuccessful search. 

 You may hunt over very likely forests without finding a single 

 bird, and without previous information there is nothing for it but 

 to work through every part of the wood. In autumn and winter, 

 having learnt that the birds are about, he should proceed to some 

 well-wooded locality, and after taking a survey of the general 

 aspect of the forest, direct his way to some well-wooded ravine 

 or hollow, where the tapering summits of the morenda pine may 

 be seen towering above the rest of the forest trees, and the 

 dense and closely-wooded character of the forest shuts out from 

 a distance all view of the ground. 



" Dogs are not necessary, but can do no harm if properly 

 under control. 



" Should he pass near a spot where any of the birds are, he 

 will soon be made aware of their vicinity by their peculiar 

 call, which they will invariably utter on his approach. 



" If they begin calling while he is at a distance, or the under- 

 wood prevents their being seen, though near, he should press 

 on them as quickly as possible, and endeavour to force them 

 to rise, or try and get a shot while one is passing over some 

 exposed spot, before they conceal themselves, in which they have 

 few equals. If they fly into the trees, the particular tree into 

 which one has flown, must be well marked down, and, if possible, 

 the particular part, or it will be difficult to find it. From the 

 thick and tangled character of the woods where they generally 

 resort, crowded and entangled with multitudinous trunks and 

 arms of trees, and dense clusters of tall ringal, it is seldom a 

 fair shot can be got at them on the wing, and the only alterna- 

 tive is to shoot them in what some will perhaps deem an unsports- 

 manlike way, on the ground, or in the trees. 



" A lot once found in any part of the forest, they may, to a 

 certainty, be found again daily at the same spot, or in its imme- 

 diate vicinity, but each day they will become more shy and 

 wary, and it is useless to hunt for them on the same ground 

 many days successively, as, after being disturbed once or twice, 



