Cassell's book of birds; vol. 3

by Alfred Edmund Brehm

The SIKKIM KALEEGE, BLACK PHEASANT, or KIRRIK (Euplocamus-Gallophasis-melanotus), as it is called in India, has the entire mantle of a glossy black, a part of the throat and the breast are whitish, the belly and feathers on the tail-covers dull brownish black. The eye is brown, the beak greyish yellow, the bare cheek bright red, and the foot grey. The length of this bird is twenty-three and the breadth twenty-eight inches; the wing measures eight inches and three-quarters, and the tail ten inches. The female is somewhat smaller, and is principally of an umber-brown, each feather having a light tip and lines on the shaft; these markings are broader and lighter on the under side and upper wing-covers than on the back; the throat-feathers are light grey, unspotted; and the centre tail-feathers deep brown, marked with light grey; those at the sides are greyish, with a green gloss.

Jerdon tells us the Sikkim Black Pheasant is met with in Nepaul, in some portions of the country being replaced by Gallophasis Horsfieldii. He informs us that about Darjeeling it is the only Pheasant at all common, and is not unfrequently put up on the roadside by dogs, when it at once takes refuge in trees. It is found at an altitude of from 3,000 to nearly 8,000 feet. It walks and runs with its tail semi-erect, and frequents both forests and bushy and grassy ground, coming to the fields and to more open spaces to feed in the morning and evening. Its eggs are occasionally found by the coolies, when weeding the tea-gardens in June and July, and are usually from five to eight in number. Its call sounds something like "koorchi-koorchi," at other times it resembles "kooruk-kooruk."

THE KELITSCH, OR WHITE-CRESTED KALEEGE PHEASANT.

The KELITSCH, or WHITE-CRESTED KALEEGE PHEASANT (Gallophasis albocristatus), has the head, throat, mantle, and tail of a lustrous blueish black; the rump-feathers are dull white, marked with pale black; the crest is white; the long breast-feathers greyish white; and the rest of the under side dark grey. The eye is brown, the bare cheek red, the beak dark grey, and the foot blueish grey. The hen bird is scarcely distinguishable from the female Kirrik.

Of the life and habits of these birds we know but little, except from the writings of "Mountaineer," who has, however, observed and described them with his usual exactness. "The well-known Kaleege," says he, "is most abundant in the lower regions; it is common in the Dhoon at the foot of the hills, in all the lower valleys, and everywhere to an elevation of about 8,000 feet. From this it becomes scarcer, though a few are found still higher. It appears to be more unsuspicious of man than the rest of our Pheasants; it comes much closer to his habitations, and from being so often found near the villages and roadsides, is regarded by all as the most common, though in their respective districts the Monauls are more numerous. In the lower regions it is found in every description of forest from the foot to the summit of the hills, but is most partial to low coppice and jungle, and wooded ravines or hollows. In the interior it frequents the scattered jungle at the borders of the dense forest, thickets near old deserted patches of cultivation, old cow-sheds and the like, coppices near the villages and roads, and, in fact, forest and jungle of every kind except the distant and remote woods, in which it is seldom found. The presence of man, or some trace that he has once been a dweller in the spot, seems as it were necessary to its existence.

"The Kaleege is not very gregarious; three or four are often found together, and ten or twelve may sometimes be put out of one small coppice, but they seem in a great measure independent of each other, much like our English Pheasants. When disturbed, if feeding or on the move, they generally run, and do not often get up unless surprised suddenly and closely, or forced by dogs, or else they lie rather close in thick cover. They are never very shy, and where not unceasingly annoyed by sportsmen or shikarees are as tame as could be wished. In walking up a ravine or hill-side, if put up by dogs a little distance above, they will often fly into the trees close above one's head, and two or three will allow themselves to be quietly knocked over in succession. When flushed from any place where they have sheltered, whether on the ground or aloft, they fly off to some distant cover, and alight on the ground in preference to the tree. Their call is a loud whistling chuckle or chirrup; it may be occasionally heard from the midst of some thicket or coppice at any hour of the day, but is not of frequent occurrence. It is generally uttered when the bird rises, and if it flies into a neighbouring tree is often continued for some time. When flushed by a cat or some small animal, this chuckling is always loud and earnest.

"The Kaleege is very pugnacious, and the males have frequent battles. On one occasion I had shot a male, which lay fluttering on the ground in its death-struggles, when another rushed out of the jungle and attacked it with the greatest fury, though I was standing reloading the gun close by. The male often makes a singular drumming noise with its wings, not unlike the sound produced by shaking a stiff piece of cloth. It is heard only in the pairing season, but whether it is employed to attract the female, or in defiance of his fellows, I cannot say, as I have never seen the birds in the act, though often led to the spot where they were by the sound. It feeds on roots, grubs, insects, seeds, and berries, and the leaves and shoots of shrubs. It is rather difficult to rear in confinement when caught old, and the few chicks I have tried have also soon died, though possibly from want of attention. The Kaleege lays from nine to fourteen eggs—very similar in size to those of the Domestic Hen. They are hatched about the end of May."

THE KALEEGE, OR BLACK PHEASANT (Euplocamus-Gallophasis-melanotus).