ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
35 
FRONTAL COURTSHIP DISPLAY OF THE PEACOCK PHEASANT 
As the courtship reaches its height the male assumes a frontal position, and increases the arc of spread of 
the wings and tail until they form a continuous circular fan of ocellated feathers, extending to the very 
ground on hoth sides. The lieu is affected neither by the aesthetic beauties of this wonderful display, 
nor the regularity of form or pattern, but apparently by some subconscious reaction to the continued 
repetition of the courtship performance 
hardly noticed—it marks a natural and 
harmless jungle happening—but a cry of 
warning, though from a member of an un¬ 
related group of birds, is recognized and 
acted on without hesitation. I told the 
babblers what I thought of them and how 
well they were named, but they had the last 
word, as usual, and long after I had left 
the glade I could hear the chorus of 
triumph and the babble of tongues tearing 
my character to shreds in the depths of the 
jungle. And as I turned back toward the 
river a band of gibbons took up the jubila¬ 
tion, and laughed and jeered high up in the 
tree-tops. A white Sahib had dared to 
enter the depths of the jungle, and was 
now retreating!” 
By a turn of the page we travel to the 
inlands of Borneo. Picture William Beebe com¬ 
pletely concealed at the edge of the display- 
arena of the Argus pheasant, the first white man 
as far as any record goes to have witnessed this 
remarkable courtship, and then this: 
“My Argus walked slowly into the arena 
at five o’clock on this particular afternoon 
and shook itself thoroughly, Huffing up its 
body plumage until it seemed twice normal 
size, then half raising its wings and tail 
and shaking itself until it fairly staggered 
on its feet. It then turned and faced the 
escape trail, whether by intention or not 
I do not know. Raising its head and neck 
it gave forth the call—the summons of the 
loneliest, most solitary pheasant in the 
world to its equally solitary kind. Kewa- 
a-au rang out, the last syllable drawn out 
as the bird lifted itself on tiptoe, putting 
every effort into the note. The tail drooped 
