Part 17 (1/2)

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

THE ARGUS-PHEASANT

Caspar proceeded with increased caution His design was to _stalk_ the wild oxen; and he had left Fritz at the hut, as the dog could be of no use in that sort of hunting

He intended to stalk the animals with more than ordinary caution, for two reasons The first was, of course, in order to get a shot at them; but there was another reason why he should be careful, and that was, the fierce and dangerous nature of the gaotten the way in which the old bull had behaved at their last interview; and Karl had particularly cautioned hi out, to act prudently, and to keep out of the way of the bull's horns He was not to fire at the yaks, unless there was a tree near, or some other shelter, to which he could retreat if pursued by the bull

The necessity, therefore, of choosing such a point of attack, would make his stalk all the h spots of open ground; at others, traversing belts of woodland, or tracts of thickety jungle

Wherever there was a reach, or open space, he stopped before going out of the cover, and looked well before hiaet too close to the old bull Fifty or sixty yards was the distance he desired; and, with the large bullets his gun carried, he would have been near enough at that

Several kinds of large birds flew up frous-pheasant, that ale These rare creatures would whirr upward, and alight ae to say, although nearly as large as peacocks, and of a et his eyes upon them after they had once perched

It is the habit of these birds, when aware of the presence of the hunter, to remain perfectly silent and motionless, and it requires the keenest eyes tothe leaves In fact, the very beauty of their singular pluus-pheasant so marked and attractive an object when side by side with other birds, is the very thing which, ae of trees, renders it so difficult to be seen Ocellated as the bird is all over its body, wings, and tail, the general-effect is such as rather to conceal it A disk of the sah the tints be less brilliant, is far lance Besides, the collected foliage of the trees, when gazed at from beneath, presents a species of ocellation, to which that of the argus-pheasant is in some way assimilated This may be a provision of nature, for the protection of this beautiful and otherwise helpless bird; for it is no great creature at a flight, with all its fine plu itself, would easily fall a prey to the sportsman

Naturalists often, and, perhaps, oftener hunters, have noted this adaptation of the colour of wild aniuars, the leopards, and panthers, whose bright, yellow skins, beautifully spotted as they are, would seem to render them most conspicuous objects, are, in reality, the most difficult to be perceived amid the haunts which they inhabit An ani, provided it were uniform, would be more easily seen than they Their very beauty renders the the unifore disk of their bodies into a hundred slance, the form which would otherwise betray their presence

For sous-pheasant is most difficult to be seen, when once settled on his perch ah himself not observed, he sees all that passes below

He is well nah the eyes all over his body be blind, he carries a pair in his head, that rival those of the famed watchman from whoht; and should the latter succeed in espying hius knohen he is discovered, and the moment a cock clicks or a barrel is poised upward, he is off with a loud whirr that causes the woods to ring

But, as already stated, he is no great flyer The s--as well as the unwieldy size of the secondaries, forht is short and heavy He is a good runner, however, like all birds of his kind; and he passes rapidly over the ground, using his wings in running like the wild turkey, to which bird he is kindred

When the argus-pheasant is at rest or unexcited, his plu himself off in the presence of his fee Then he expands his spotted wings, and trails theround in the same manner as the peacock His tail, too, becomes spread and raised erect, whereas at other ti feathers folded over each other

The argus-pheasant (which closet-naturalists now say is not a pheasant, but an _argus_) is peculiar to the southern parts of Asia, though the lie are not well understood It is found in all parts of India, and also, as is supposed, in China, even in the northern provinces of that country

But the argus is not the only beautiful pheasant of these regions

India, or rather southern Asia, is the true home of the pheasant tribe

Already nearly a dozen species of these birds, some of them far more beautiful than the birds of paradise, are known to naturalists; and when the ornithology of the Indian Islands has been thoroughly investigated, a still greater number will be found to exist there

The Ier than the common fowl, rivals the crested peacock in the brilliancy of its hues No words can give any adequate idea of the splendour of this bird Nearly the whole surface of its plureen and steel-blue, of violet and gold It looks as if its body was clothed in a scale are is soft and velvety to the touch This nificent bird is a native of the Himalaya Mountains; where is also found another splendid species, the peacock-pheasant of Thibet, the latter closely allied to a still eous bird, the crested polyplectron of the Moluccas

One cannot look upon these lovely winged creatures without a feeling of gratitude to Hiive pleasure to all who may behold them

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

STALKING THE YAKS

Caspar was not out pheasant-shooting, and therefore these beautiful birds were per bull

Where could the herd be? He had already traversed half the extent of the valley without finding the yaks; but there was nothing singular in this There was plenty of covert ae, have an instinct or a faculty of concealing theantic elephant will get out of sight ae body could hardly be hidden; and the great black buffalo often springs unexpectedly out of a bushy covert not es can squat unseen in the shortest stubble, or squirrels lie hid along the slenderest branch, so have the larger wild ani the hunter are of this fact; and therefore was not so ht of the yaks The for in the loss of two of their nu the hut had, no doubt, driven them to thehis steps