We could keep no fire and, being soon wet through, passed a wretched night.
December 21.
We all today began to feel the want of food; since Sunday night we had subsisted on nothing but rice and tea, and only in very small quantities at a time, as the heavy rain had materially interrupted our cooking.

As there was plenty of game in this valley I determined to halt for a day previously to my return to the party, for the double purpose of exploring the valley and of shooting game.
CUCKOO-PHEASANT.
The large bird which was the most abundant here was the Cuculus phasianus or pheasant cuckoo.

This bird in colour, in length of tail, in its size, and general appearance so closely resembles the hen pheasant of England that, when it is on the wing, it is almost impossible to tell the difference; its habits and food are also identical with that of the English pheasant.

The chief point of distinction is that its toes point two before and two behind, in the same manner as those of a parrot; but what is very remarkable about this bird is that, although, like the other Scansores, it delights in climbing and running up trees, it is equally fond of running along the ground in the manner a pheasant does.
SPORTING.
This day I found plenty of these birds in a cover of long dry grass and bushes about half my height.

From this kind of ground I descended to deep lagoons in the bottoms, with rushes, reeds, and dense tropical vegetation around them, amongst which the bamboo and pandanus bore a conspicuous figure; as I beat this cover the pheasants, with their whirring noise, rose on all sides of me, and my Westley Richards was kept in constant operation.