THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 15 



for a few more minutes however he still stuck to his guns, but then 

 turned and fled, only to be at once caught and knocked over again 

 and again as he tried to escape ; finally as he again turned to bolt, 

 the cock struck fair, and his spur went right into the nape of the 

 neck, and before he could disentangle himself from his victim, both 

 birds were covei'ed by the Mikir's blanket. When we got them 

 out of the folds of this the pheasant was dead, whilst the cock was 

 almost unharmed beyond a broken spiir and a torn comb. To the 

 Mikri's indignation I insisted on the release of the winner of the 

 fight, who at once scuttled off into the bamboos and when at, 

 what he considered, a safe distance flew into a branch and crowed 

 victoriouslv. 



Although I have so frequentl}- come across the birds when fight- 

 ing, I have never come across a regular fighting ground such as 

 that described by Hume. He writes : — 



" No one specially notices the extreme pugnacity' of these 

 " birds in the wild state, or the fact that where they are 

 "numerous they select regular fighting grounds much like 

 " Rufls. 



" Going through the forests of the Siwaliks in the north- 

 " eastern portion of the Saharanpur district, I chanced one 

 "afternoon, late in March, on the tiny open gi'assj' knoll, 

 " perhaps ten yards in diameter and a yard in height. It 

 " was covered with close turf, scratched in man)'' places into 

 "holes and covered over with Jungle-fowl feathers to such an 

 " extent that I thought some Bonelli's Eagle, a great enemy 

 " of this species, must have caught and devoured one. Whilst 

 " I was looking round, one of my dogs brought me from some- 

 " where in the jungle round a freshh^ killed Jungle-cock, in 

 " splendid plumage, but with the base of the skull on one side 

 " pierced by what I at once concluded must have been the spur 

 " of another cock. I put up for the da}^ at a Bunjara Perow, 

 " some two miles distant, and on speaking to the men found 

 " that they knew the place well, and one of them said that he 

 " had repeatedl}^ watched the cocks fighting there, and that he 

 " would take me to a tree close by whence I could see it for 

 myself. Long before daj'light he guided me to the tree, 

 telling me to climb to the fourth fork, whence, quite con- 

 " cealed, I could look down on the mound. When I got up 

 " it was too dark to see an}i;hing, but a glimmer of dawn soon 

 " stole into the eastern sky, which I faced ; soon after crow- 

 "ing began all round, then I made out the mound dimly, 

 •• perhaps thirty yards from the base of the tree, and forty from 

 "my perch; then it got quite light, and in a few minutes 

 "later, a jungle-cock ran out on to the top of the mound and 

 "' crowed (for a wild bird) vociferously, clapping his wings. 



(t 



