THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 29 



" kindly to domestic life, and avail themselves of the first 

 " opportimity for escaping-. It is needless to say that they 

 " cannot easily be induced to breed in captivity. I have 

 " known the experiment tried time after time unsuccessfully. 



" Numbers are trapped by the professional fowlers of South- 

 " ern India and brought for sale, together with Pavo cristaius, 

 " and Verdicula asictica to the stations on the Nilgiris, where 

 " cocks in good plumage may be purchased for about 8 annas 

 " each. Numbers are also brought to Madras from the Red 

 " Hills, where they are even cheaper. When caught, the eyes 

 " are closed by a thread passed throiigh the upper and under 

 '• ej'elids and then knotted together ; a short string is then tied 

 •• to one leg, and the other end made fast to a long stick. A 

 " number of birds are placed side by side on this stick, which is 

 " then carried about on a man's head. The poor blind birds 

 " remain quiet, not attempting to flutter or escape. 



" Except for his feathers or as a specimen, the Grey Jungle- 

 " cock is hardh' worth shooting ; the breast alone is really 

 *' eatable, and even at the best the breast is very dry and 

 " hard. 



" They roost on trees, continually in the earl 3^ mornings, 

 " just at daylight, when out shooting Sambhur, I have disturb- 

 " ed them from the trees on which they had spent the night. 



" Although armed with most formidable spurs, they are not, 

 " so far as my experience goes, quarrelsome or pugnacious. 

 " In the wild state I have never seen them fighting, and I for 

 " many 3 ears enio3'ed peculiar opportunities for observing 

 " them. In captivit3" half a dozen, with as many females, 

 " will live in the same compartment of an aviary in perfect 

 " peace. 



" Another proof of their non-belligerent character is to be 

 " found in the fact that the native bird-catchers never peg 

 " males out to attract others, as the3^ do in everj- part of the 

 " East with all liirds that are naturall3'' pugilistic. Scores of 

 " times I have listened to two cocks crowing at each other 

 " vigoi'ously from closel3^ adjoining patches of cover, but 

 " neither apparently ever thinking of, as an Amei'ican would 

 " say, fioing for that other cock. 



" They are, I think, altogether less plucky birds than the 

 " Eed Jungle-fowl, and thev are so extremely war3^, where 

 " birds and animals of pi'e3- ai-e concerned, and wander such 

 " short distances from the edges of cover, that I think ver3'- 

 " few of them fall victims to an3^ enem3^ but man. There are 

 " plent3'- of Bonelli's Eagle and some Hawk-Eagles too in 

 " the Nilgiris, but 1 do liot think that these ever succeed in 

 " capturing Grej^ as they do elsewhere Red, Jungle-fowl ; at 



