They were, and always will be, during the warmer seasons of the
year (they are much tamer I know in winter) rather wild and
shy, given to skulking, and hard to flush, unless by accident
you come suddenly upon them. In no place did I ever find
them numerous as the Moonal often is ; but, though scattered
widely, there were, and the most reliable sportsmen tell me that
there still arc, plenty of them, if they are looked for in suitable
places, in the right way and with good dogs. To go after
Tragoparts in summer without these latter, is much like going
fishing without hooks.
Writing from Kullu recently, Mr. Young remarks :—
"This is, of all the Indian Pheasants, perhaps the one most
easity reared in captivity. Its habitat is much the same as
that of the Moonal, though its zone of distribution descends
to a somewhat lower altitude. Its favourite food is the berry
of an evergreen plant called in Kullu Deklia ; it is, I believe, a
species of Carunda.
" I have always found this bird much easier to shoot than
the Moonal ; when put up by dogs, I have known a dozen or
so fly up into the surrounding trees, uttering their curious
call, something between a kid's bleat and the cry of a wild
goose.
" Once in the trees, they never offered to move, but sat
stupidly staring at the dogs, whilst I picked them off one by
one. This, however, was only early in the season ; later they get
wiser, and are very wild, going off a long distance after the
first couple of shots.
" I have not unfrequcntly seen this bird in company with the
Moonal in the summer months, when I have often found them
together in the grassy patches in the higher forests, a small
company of a dozen or so of each species, and more rarely one
or two Cheer."
It is only in out-of-the-way places that they are thus tame,
and I cannot myself say that I have ever found them feeding
out in the open; but the habits of all these birds do vary a
good deal according to locality, and I quote the above for comparison
with Wilson's old note, which, as in many other cases,
still gives, to my fancy, the best and most exhaustive account
of the habits of this species :—
" Except where an isolated village is situate high up in a
densely-wooded locality and surrounded by thick forest, the
Jewar is seldom or never found near the habitations of man, but
frequents the darkest and most solitary parts of the woods,
where it is not often subject to disturbance ; and keeps so still
and secluded in their shady recesses, that not one in twenty of
the inhabitants of the nearest villages ever see one, except when
caught or killed by a shikari.
" I n autumn and winter its haunts are in the thickest parts
of the forests of oak, chestnut and morenda pine, where the
box tree is abundant, and where, under the forest-trees, a
luxuriant growth of 'ringal' or hill bamboo, forms an
underwood in some places almost impenetrable.
"They keep in companies of from two or three to ten or a
dozen, not in compact flocks, but scattered widely over a
considerable space of forest, so that many at times get quite
separated, and are found alone.
" In places where seldom disturbed, the whole lot are sometimes
found within a compass of twenty or thirty yards, while,
where often subject to intrusion, they get scattered and keep
in ones and twos in different quarters of the forest, but if left
undisturbed for a week or two, they will again collect together.
They seldom forsake entirely a regular resort, however much
disturbed, but get so shy and wary that it is very difficult to
find, and almost impossible to shoot them. Here they pass
the winter months, seldom wandering away from the particular
quarter they have chosen for a resort, which they return to year
after year; and while there located, if not disturbed, never
leave it to any distance, though many other parts of the wood
are exactly of the same character.
" If several lots are in the forest, each lot appear to have
their own favourite quarter, and never intermingle with the
others.
" The trees furnishing them with a sufficiency of food,
though the ground be covered with snow many feet in depth,
the severest storms of winter do not, speaking of the species
generally, cause them to change their locality. After a severe
fall of snow, a few occasionally leave for a time their usual
haunts, if in a very bleak quarter, or at any considerable
elevation, and are found in places widely differing, as small
patches of forest on a bare exposed hill side, narrow wooded
ravines, patches of low brushwood and jungle, and anywhere
where the ground is sheltered from the sun by trees and bushes.
Sometimes one is found in a similar situation in fine weather,
probably driven out of its retreat by an Eagle* or Falcon ; but
these are rare exceptions, and they soon again return to their
regular resorts.
" At this season, except its note of alarm when disturbed, the
Jewar is altogether mute, and is never heard of its own accord
to utter a note or call of any kind, unlike the rest of our
Pheasants, all of which occasionally crow or call at all seasons.
When alarmed, it utters a succession of wailing cries, not unlike
those of a young lamb or kid, like the syllables ' waa, waa, waa,'
each syllable uttered slowly and distinctly at first, and more
rapidly as the bird is hard pressed or about to take wing.
" Where not repeatedly disturbed, it is not particularly
shy, and seldom takes alarm till a person is in its immediate
* The Nepal Hawk-Eagle, LtmnaHus mfalmrit, is an inveterate foe to both
species of Tragopan and to the Moonal.