midnight
They had reached an opening in the forest , by the side of what was evidently a mountain of considerable height , and the doctor smiled as he recalled the fact that the Argus pheasant was reputed to haunt such places ; when to his intense delight there soddenly rang out from the distance on the silent night air a peculiar cry that resembled the name given to the bird -- _ Coo-ow _ . For the moment it seemed to the doctor as if some Australian savage was uttering his well-known _ Coo-ay _ , or as if this was the Malays ' form of the cry . But he knew well enough what it was , and following his guide with the greatest caution , they crept on towards the place from which the sound had seemed to come . It was weird work in that wild solitude far on towards midnight , but the doctor was too keen a naturalist to think of anything but the specimen of which he was in search . He knew that the native hunters , out night after night , could not shoot more than one of these birds in a year , and it would be quite a triumph if he could add such a magnificent thing to his collection . _ Coo-ow _ -- rang out the strange cry , and it seemed quite near . Then again _ Coo-ow _ , and this time it appeared to be a long way off .