New-York tribune., 1913-07-20

~ one that has been less in the eye
of the public than almost any other has
recently been concluded by c. William
Beebe curator Of birds at the New York
Geological Gardens and now engaged IN
arranging and setting forth the results
Of his late labors. Mr. Beebe, VINO is
lean and wiry naturalist with an appar-
ent apathy for the thrilling adventures
that his expedition led him into, has
travelled. I'm company with his wife, more
than fifty thousand miles in two years
through the widest parts Of tropical and
Oriental countries, through swamp and
Jungle. forest and desert, through the
head hunters district Of Borneo and
through the plague district Of China for
no other purpose than the collection and
study of the pheasants of the world.
These strange and beautiful birds are
becoming extinct rapidly. so rapidly, Mr..
Beebe declares. that even to-day 1t
would be impossible for him TO repeat
the results Of his expedition. On the
trip that he has concluded. however, he
has been sufficiently fortunate 10 secure
specimens Of the nineteen pheasant
learn so much about the life and the va
rieties of this type of bird and kindred
varieties that there will be little left TO
say about pheasants when his book Is
finally published under the auspices OF
the New York Geological Society, In the
autumn of 1914. The reason for the pre-
vlous hiatus in pheasant lore among
naturalists is hard to explain although 1t
is largely due TO the inaccessibility~ Of
so many OF the one hundred different
kinds OF pheasants, and TO the great
labor. hardship and expense entailed by
a trip for the study of their habits and
the collection Of species.
A SCIENTIFIC INVESTMENT.
The financial part of Mr. Beebe's trip
was taken care OF by Colonel Anthony
r. Kuser, one of the managers Of the
Geological Society, who offered to
finance the expedition, whatever II
should cost; and It will cost 10000
when all the expenses are accounted for.
From a scientific point of view, the
money was well invested, for the results
Of Mr.. Beebe's trip are not only Of great
scientific interest in themselves. but
form unique record that never again
could be presented to the ornithologists
Of the world.
Leaving New York on Christmas Day,
1909. Mr.. Beebe and his wife travelled
successively through Ceylon, India,
Tibet, Kashmir, Burma, the Malay
States. Borneo, Sumatra. Java, China
and Japan, travelling in all sorts Of Gu
rious manners and experiencing the most
unusual adventures among the wild
tribes and I'm the practically unknown
regions where their search for pheas-
ants led them. They were shot at with
poisoned arrows and lost eleven OF their
servants in the course Of their trip
through disease and accident They
were in the first anti-foreign riots at
Hankow. most Of which they witnessed
from the deck Of river steamer and
Mr.. Beebe nearly lost his life when go
ing ashore 10 draw some money from
the bank They also came in contact
with the pneumonia plague, which was
raging at Tien-tsin and in other places
when they were obliged to 90 out into
the Cobb desert I'm their search for the
cared pheasant, and one day in Borneo
they were treated TO the spectacle Of
one OF their own servants returning to
camp with the heads Of eight hostile
Dyaks dangling from his girdle.
ADVENTURE ONLY INCIDENTAL.
These dVentures however, were, TO
Mr. Beebe. merely incidents i'm his work
OF collecting pheasants and with the
true scientific viewpoint he considers
the discovery Of the blood red pheasant
of the Himalayas or the dancing place
Of the Argus pheasant in BorneO greatly
more important. There were many rea-
sons for his choosing pheasants and kim
dred birds for the subject of his re-
searches. chief of which is that he con-
siders the pheasants TO be the most in
teresting and economically valuable OF
all, notably as the red jungle fowl Is
the ancestor OF all our breeds Of do
mestic chicken. Chickens were originally
Jungle fowl dOmesticated on the Malay
peninsula and taken from there 10 China.
where they formed the first barnyard
poultry some thousands Of years ago.
and perhaps cid some OF those ancient
ecrs prototvpes OF those which the CHI