it will be next to impossible to get a shot, though many birds
may be found. They will be scattered singly in widely distant
places ; some will keep in the trees altogether, one now and
then flying off close above the sportsman's head, but so suddenly
and rapidly as to leave little chance off his getting a shot at it ;
and many, as soon as aware of the sportsman's presence in the
wood, will, without waiting for his approach, conceal themselves
so artfully as to leave only a bare possibility of his ever
finding them.
" Even if the particular tree into which one has been seen
to fly is immediately approached, one may stand for an hour
under it, and examine almost every leaf and branch without
being able to discover the bird, and should one even succeed in
doing this, one is still too often disappointed in getting a shot, as
they seem to keep their eye fixed on your movements, and to
become aware of the very moment they arc discovered, darting
off before the gun can be put to the shoulder.
" In spring, which is the season most generally chosen by the
sportsman for excursions in the interior, he will have a better
chance of finding them than in autumn, as then they are not
so restricted in their resorts, but are distributed all over the
forests, and the males do not so much covet concealment.
They should now be sought for in the higher parts of the
forest, where the birch tree begins to make its appearance, and it
is advisable to sit and listen at intervals for their call. On hearing
it, the sportsman should proceed as quickly and noiselessly as
possible to the quarter from whence the sound proceeded, listening
at times for a repetition of the call to guide him to the
exact spot. The bird will generally be found on some exposed
spot where a nice pot shot (oh !) may be had. Great caution
must be taken, particularly when getting near, as, if once disturbed,
there is little chance of finding the bird again that day.
" The Je-ivar roosts in trees, and in winter, perhaps for warmth,
seems to prefer the low evergreens, with closely-interwoven
leaves and branches, to the larger trees which overshadow them."
THE ONLY eggs of the Western Tragopan that I have yet seen
are six sent to me by Captain Unwin from Ilazara, which
were taken on the 25th May 1869 by Captain Lautour, who communicated
to him the following note :—
" I was shooting on a range of hills from 8,000 to 11,000 feet
high. The Argus in parts very plentiful, the hills covered with
pine forests, and the Argus I used to find about one-fourth of
the height of the hill from the top, and they appeared to affect
the vicinity and edges of snow nallas and landslips, where
there was a fair quantity of undergrowth, and where there were
plenty of rocks.
"At the time of finding the nest, I was on the look-out for
Pheasants, but the ground being rather stiff, I had just given up
my gun to the shikari, when the bird got up almost at my feet.
I was going through a pine forest, and had reached a place
where an avalanche or landslip had carried away all the pine
trees, and in their place, small bushes and shrubs, resembling the
hazel, had sprung up. I was descending into this, when the bird
got up, as I said before, almost at my feet. The nest was on
the ground, and was very roughly formed of grass, small sticks,
and a very few feathers ; it was very carelessly built. More I did
not observe, as the bird, having gone down close, I wanted to
shoot it.
" I did not succeed in doing this, but from the close view I
had of it, and the attention I have since paid to all our Pheasants,
I have no doubt the bird was a hen Argus."
Indian sportsman always miscall this species, and the previous
one," The Argus." I may add that there is no earthly doubt
of the correctness of the identification, as there is absolutely no
other bird in the Western Himalayas that could have laid these
eggs.
The eggs are more or less elongated ovals, considerably compressed
towards the small end. They are, as a whole, of very
much the same length, but a good deal slenderer than the eggs
of the Moonal. The shell is fine, but almost absolutely devoid
of gloss. Looked at from a little distance, they appear to be
of a uniform colour and devoid of markings, and seem to vary
from a pale café au lait to a dull reddish buff; looked into
closely they appear to have a somewhat lighter ground colour,
excessively finely and minutely freckled and spotted with a
somewhat darker shade. They arc the least glossy of all the
true game birds' eggs that I know, and in shape and texture,
though not in tint, remind one not a little of those of the King
Curlew and White Ibis, and other birds of that family.
In length they vary from 2'4 to 2-55, and in breadth from
r 6 8 to 172 ; but the average of the six eggs is 2-51 by 17.
I HAVE unfortunately lost my paper of measurements, &c, of
this species. The following are chiefly from Wilson :—
Males.—Length, 27 to 29; expanse, 37; wing, 11'25; tail,
I0'5 to I I ; tarsus, 3. Weight, 4'5lbs. Bill blackish ; irides hazel
brown ; naked skin round the eye bright red, two fleshy horns
about an inch and a half long, sky blue ; the guiar wattle purple
in the middle, fleshy on the sides, spotted and edged with pale
blue ; legs and feet pale flesh colour, approaching to white.
I, however, distinctly remember that the horns had sometimes
a very greenish tinge ; that there were some blue markings on the
face below the eye, and that the pinky portion of the throat
lappet was, in some cases at any rate, a vivid salmon pink.
The legs, too, become much redder during the breeding season.
In the cold weather, the horns and lappet shrivel up to
nothing, and can barely be traced, and even in the summer it