200 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



down extremely fast, apparently closing their wings and steering 

 by their tails; while if hit and not killed they will run for miles 

 at times. In thin tree-growth on the hillside they are hard to 

 get unless bayed by dogs, at which, iu out-of-the-way places, says 

 Hume, they will chuckle or crow, with erected feathers, from the 

 bough they have taken to, till they can be potted. Possibly this 

 antipathy to dogs, like their fearless spitefulness toman when con- 

 fined, indicates that they assist each other agamst vermin, for they 

 are most companionable birds, except in the breeding-season, 

 associating in coveys of up to fifteen in number, and these lots 

 remaining about the same favourite place from one year's end 

 to another, even if some' are shot. They are great runners and 

 skulkers when the grass is long and gives them a chance, and do 

 not fly far at a time. In fact, they are essentially ground-birds, 

 and seldom even roost on trees, but •' jug " like partridges on the 

 ground. 



Cheer generally breed between 4,000 and 8,000 feet, prefer- 

 ably in May and at the foot of one of their favourite " Dangs" 

 scratching a slight hole and laying small eggs for their size, 

 not larger than a common fowl's, and dirty-white or pale- 

 greyish, with a few rusty spots in most cases. The cock 

 as well as the hen looks after the brood. The native name 

 expressing the characteristic note is the most widely used, but in 

 the hills north of Mussoorie is replaced by Bunchil or Herril, 

 while in Chamba and Kullu Chaiiian is this bird's title. 



Stone's Pheasant. 



PJtasicaiHs elegans. 



Stone's pheasant is one of the numerous subspecies of our 

 common European pheasant (P. coJchicus), and the hen is not 

 noticeably distinct from the female of that bird ; the cock also 

 is likely to be considered the same on a casual view, but it really 

 rather approaches the Chinese ring-necked race (P. torquatiis), 

 having the same lavender back and patches on the wings. There 

 is, however, no white ring round the neck, and the breast is not 

 coppery-gold as in the common pheasant and ring-neck, but dark 



