JUNGLE COURTSHIP

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 May 1936, Page 3

JUNGLE COURTSHIP

IN SUBURBAN GARDEN. . Only one man has ever seen the' dazzling courtship display of the] Argus pheasants in its native jungle,but there are three pairs of these rare and beautiful birds in Australia, writes Norman M’Cance, in the Melbourne Argus. In many ways the most ornamental and specialised of the pheasant family, the male Argus pheasant of Malaya, Sumatra, and Borneo is famous for its elaborate preparations for courtship—--a most peculiar call which resounds through the jungle for nearly all thej year, a space cleared in the heart of the jungle for displaying its plumage] to the hen, and a marvellous feather! elaboration by which the great secondary feathers of the wing carry a? row of ball-and-socket markings, so curiously shaded that the flat surface seems to grow convex as one gazes on it, and become like the “hundred eyes” oil the mythical creature from .which it derives its name. 1

in this courtship display, which only one man has ever seen in its native jungle, there is an elaborate setting, stage, and properties, with an actor who in turn in both company and orchestra —and all unquestionably for (he benefit of an audience of one brown hen who appears utterly bored with the entire show.

The male approaches with the two outermost primary feathers lying paiallel side by side, their tips resting on the' ground, and the innermost secondaries completing the great circle of feathers over the back. He pokes his head through between two of the feathers, either of the right or the left wing, but always the same wing, takes a peep, and withdraws. Thus, through the peephole of the living curtain, the feathered actor watches his audience.

Only one white man has ever seen the Argus pheasant in its native home, and he is Mr. William Beebe, director of the department of tropical research of the New York Zoological Society, who, through the generosity of Colonel Anthony R. Kuser, of New York (the great American pheasant fancier), spent L 7 months in the East studying every known variety of pheasant in its wild state. His description of the Bot noun Argus calling from its dam’ing arena is one of the most enthralling chapters in the monumental volumes cn his travels. In -tracking the Argus to its jungle home he certainly saw phases of its daily life that no man, white or coloured, has ever seen before.

The common method of capturing the Argus is by a snare or nqose on the dancing ground, but a particularly cruel way is to take advantage of the enthusiasm of the bird for keeping the dancing floor clear. Several long slender slivers of bamboo are split off,,the edges of the silicious outer fibre being as sharp as razors. One of these is bent double and sunk in the; mound. The bird, in attempting to* remove it, attacks it from all sides to, uproot it, and sooner or later the’ .sharp edges come into contact with; the thin bare skin of the neck, and the' bird is found dead or dying near its! display ground. This, of course, is! when the natives want it for food, but] the Argus has so high a value on its; head alive that it is usually snared.! It begins at about £lO a pair jn Singa-

pore, and in Europe or the United i States it may fetch up .to £lOO if in! good condition' and plumage. Those) ! who have seen such a beautiful pair) !'as Mr. Jaques has preserved far be-’ I yond the span of their Life in the jungle] •will agrees that rnpjj.ey could>.scarcely{■ buy anything so -fascinating, in fur or feathers: ' I '