HIMALAYAN SNOW-COCK 223 



no spurs, is just like the cock, both having the same chestnut- 

 edged white bib and white breast, and chestnut streaks on the 

 grey ground of the wings and sides. 



Snow-cocks, often somewhat absurdly called snow-pheasants, 

 for they are most obvious partridges in everything except size, 

 avoid cover of any sort, but they are rather partial to rocks, and 

 roost on the shelves of precipices at night. They like feeding 

 on spots where sheep have been folded at night earlier in the 

 year, as the grazing is better in such places ; and on cold, dull, 

 and wet days keep on the feed all day, though warm bright 

 weather makes them sluggish and disinclined to leave their rocky 

 perches except at morning and evening. They are, indeed, 

 essentially birds of the cold bleak heights, and few remain to 

 breed on the Indian side of the Gangetic section of the moun- 

 tains, the majority here apparently crossing the snows to nest in 

 Chinese Tibet, though in Kunawar they are common at all 

 seasons. 



In September they appear between the woods and the snow, 

 and as winter draws on the heavy falls drive them down to any 

 open hills they may find in the forest belt. Their migration 

 seems to be made at night, and in mild winters hardly any come 

 down ; 7,000 feet is about the limit in any case. Once settled 

 on a hill, they stay till the end of March, and each pack has 

 its own location, to which it appears to return every year. 

 They will feed on young sprouting corn very readily, and eat 

 other herbage besides grass, but only visit isolated patches of 

 cultivation. 



Generally speaking, they dislike a nearer approach than about 

 eighty yards, and though they will merely walk ofT at first if 

 approached from below, an intruder from above will make them 

 take wing almost at once ; while their vigilant sentries see to it 

 that no advance is made unnoted. Generally speaking, there- 

 fore, they need a rifle to bring them to book, and as their ground 

 is also frequented by burrhel and tahr, many people find them 

 rather a nuisance than otherwise, since when out with a rifle 

 men prefer the four-footed game, and the alarm-whistle of the 

 birds startles these. Moreover, although such fine big birds, 

 and usually very fat, they are indifferent eating at best, and 



