194 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV. 



Like the rest of the family in India, these Pheasants prefer to 

 use their legs to their wings to avoid pursuit, and will always run 

 rather than fly as long as there is any cover to conceal them, and no 

 obnoxious dog to put them up. Unless they are actually forced to 

 the very edge of a jungle by beaters or one comes on them in the 

 open so suddenlj' that thej^ lose their heads, it is most difficult to 

 make them rise, and when shooting, more especially when shooting 

 for the pot, it is frequently necessar}^ to shoot them as they run, 

 perhaps no easier a feat than when they are on the wing, for they 

 make use of every scrap of cover, and only give the snappiest of 

 snap-shots as they dodge from one bush to another. 



On the wing they are fair fliers once they get away, though they 

 appear to be going much slower than is really the case. On the 

 flat they simply fly from one forest to another, but when shooting 

 in hills the sportsmen Avill find they nearly alwajj^s run up hill and 

 fly down hill, consequent!}' after the first mad rush into the air they 

 sail down at a tremendous pace, and one must keep well forward 

 to obtain clean shots. They do not stand, comparativeh^ as much 

 knocking about as do Jungle-Fowl, though the}' are bigger and 

 heavier birds ; they have not as much heart, and their feathers seem 

 to be less impervious to shot than those of that bird. 



They are very omnivorous in their diet and will eat practical^' 

 anji^hing from bamboo seeds to small snakes and lizards. Their 

 favourite articles of food are the same as those of all other game- 

 birds, with whose habits I am intimately acquainted, i.e., white ants, 

 fruit of the various fid and bamboo seed. To this must be added, 

 in the case of the Kalij, forest yams and the roots of small ginger- 

 like plants very common over a great portion of their habitat. 



Birds which have been feeding on this extremely acrid, pungent 

 root are almost uneatable, otherwise they are normally xqvj good 

 eating, though naturally old birds are tough unless eaten whilst 

 still warm or hung for several days. Probably the best way of 

 eating these birds is in the old gipsy manner, rolling them up in a 

 mass of clay, feathers and all, chucking them into a heap of red-hot 

 ashes until the claj' is baked hard, after which the clay may be 

 broken, when the feathers come awaj^ with it, and the dish is ready. 



Like the Jungle-Fowl, the Kalij Pheasant is difficult to domes- 

 ticate, but by no means impossible, and given a big enough aviary 

 and lots of brushwood or other cover under which to hide, thej" 

 soon become more or less tame. It would probably be impossible 

 to tame them sufficient!}^ to run loose with domestic fowls, for 

 though chicks may be hatched from eggs put under hens and 

 reared without much trouble, they always clear off" directly the 

 breeding season approaches. 



Cripps says that they are quite impossible to tame, and that he 

 has seen man}^ in Sylhet as wild to the last as the day they were 



