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G. A. C. HERKLOTS
The Call of the Lesser Crow-Pheasant.
coop
currah
currah
The
On June 3, whilst we were having breakfast a curious call was heard in the garden outside. It sounded like, "Currah currah." We went out to discover its origin. Presently a Lesser Crow- Pheasant flew onto the top of a small pine tree in the garden and com- menced calling, “Coop
currah currah." We watched the bird through binoculars whilst it sang. call was quite different to that of the Chinese Crow Pheasant, the "coop" being on one note there being no inflection at the end. We have, since that day, frequently heard this species calling in Pokfulam but never have seen it again. From our house the following cuckoos can be heard in the course of a day or two: Chinese Koel, Chinese Crow-Pheasant, Lesser Crow- Pheasant, Indian Cuckoo and Burmese Plaintive Cuckoo.
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poomp
•
•
poomp
·
4
The call of the Chinese Crow Pheasant is usually written "Poomp
poomp
poomp poomp," each call being slightly lower on the scale than the preceding one and the short pause between each call lessening progressively. The call heard in the distance could thus be interpreted fairly accurately but if the bird is nearby a slight inflection is quite noticeable in each call and a more correct interpretation would be "poom" or even "quoo" as I interpreted it in the last issue of this journal on page 2.
The Hong Kong Naturalist.
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