ee

 

~~

 

ARGUSIANUS ARGUS.

Great Argus Pheasant.

Argus Pheasant, Lath. Syn. iv. p. 710 (1783).—id. Gen. Hist. B.

Phasianus argus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p- 272 (1766).

Argus pavonius, Vieill. Gal. Ois. pl. 203 iss) == Encycl. Méth. ple Sve tee Se

paoninus, Less. Traité d’Orn. p. 488, & Atlas, pl. 84 (1831). :

ggenteus, Temm. Hist. Pigeons et Gall. iii. Pp. 678.—Jard. & Selby, Ill. Orn, pls. 14, 15.—Blyth, Cat. B.
Mus. As. Soc. 1849, p. 242.—Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, pp. 124-222.— Wallace, Malay Archip. i.
p. 32.—Elliot, Monogr. Phas. len (1872).—Hume, Str. F. 1878, p. 427.—Id. 1879, pp. 68-110.—Id.
& Marsh. Game Birds of India, i. p. 99.

Argusianus giganteus, Gray, Gen. B. iii. p- 103 (1845).—Jerd. B. Ind. iii. p. 509 (1864).—Gray, List Gall. Brit.

Mus. p. 25 (1867).—Blyth, B. Burm. p- 148 (1875).

argus, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Genov. xiv. p- 85 (1879).—Oates, B. Brit. Burm. ii. p-. 313 (1883).
Argusa giganteus, Kelham, Ibis, 1881, p. 530.

Viti. p. 203 (1823),

 

 

 

Tuts splendid Pheasant is chiefly known as an inhabitant of the Malayan peninsula, whence it ranges
northwards into the dense forests in the neighbourhood of the Pakchan river in Tenasserim, and_ it
also extends into the island of Sumatra. In Borneo its place is taken by the allied species Argusianus
grayi; but the common Argus is said to reach to Siam, where it was obtained by the late M. Mouhot. In
Cochin-China it would appear to be replaced by the lately described Reinhardius ocellatus, two specimens
of which now grace the galleries of the Paris Museum. Several descriptions have been written of the habits
of the Argus, most of which are too lengthy to be reproduced here, especially as they will be known
to the majority of my readers from Mr. Wallace’s ‘ Malay Archipelago,’ Messrs. Hume and Marshall’s
‘Game Birds of India,’ Mr. Elliot’s ‘ Monograph of the Pheasants,’ and Mr. Tegetmeier’s work on Pheasants.
One of the best accounts, however, of the present bird is that given by Mr. Davison in the sixth volume
of ‘Stray Feathers.’ This gentleman resided for several months in the neighbourhood of Malewoon, in
Tenasserim. He gives full information as to the mode in which these Pheasants are trapped by the
Malays; and I make the following extract from his account of the habits of the birds, especially as the above-
mentioned paper is less likely to be known to my readers :—

«They live quite solitarily, both males and females ; every male has his own drawing-room, of which
he is excessively proud, and which he keeps scrupulously clean. They haunt exclusively the depths
of the evergreen forests, and each male chooses some open level spot, sometimes down ina dark gloomy
ravine, entirely surrounded and shut in by dense cane-brakes and rank vegetation, sometimes on the
top of a hill when the jungle is comparatively open, from which he clears all the dead leaves and weeds
for a space of six or eight yards square, until nothing but the bare clean earth SINS 5 and thereafter
he keeps the place scrupulously clean, removing carefully every dead leaf or twig the may happen to
fall on it from the trees above. These clear spaces are undoubtedly used as dancing-grounds ; but
personally I have never seen a bird dancing in them, but have always found the proprietor me od
quietly in or moving backwards and forwards slowly about them, calling at short intervals. oe in
the morning and evening, when they roam about to feed and drink, the males are always to be found
at home, and they roost at night on some tree quite close by. ce ee

“They are the most difficult birds I know of to approach : a male Ms roa ca me a ae ;
follow up the sound, taking care not to make the slightest noise, till et a ie mt a aa
few yards of you, and is only hidden by the denseness of the Bee: ee a - be a ee
hardly daring to breathe, and suddenly emerge on the open space ; ae au i
bird has either caught sight of or heard or smelt yo and a run 0 ee Ye i ¥ es
if they can possibly avoid it, but run very swiftly away, alway

rise, even when pursued by a dog, : ; a
choosing the densest and most impenetrable part of the forest to retreat through. en
atience to secure the bird by trapping It.

cleared space is discovered, it is merely a work of a little p rR. B. S.J