274 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



time even threatened to charge the hand of their owner ! What 

 such tiny things could do against anything bigger than a mouse 

 or a locust is a problem, but evidently they are not wanting in 

 pluck. They have been found to feed on grass-seed and white 

 ants, and are to be seen in gardens as well as in the open 

 country. They are often found on land which has been flooded 

 during the rains. The nest, sometimes domed and sometimes 

 open, may be found even as late as October, in some places, 

 though breeding begins as early as April ; the eggs tend to be 

 more numerous than in the larger species, for five and six may 

 be found, though the usual hemipode clutch of four is more 

 general. They are of the pointed peg-top shape, and show the 

 typical dark peppering and spotting of the family ; but are not 

 so much smaller than those of the larger button-quails, as would 

 be expected — another point of resemblance to the jack-snipe. 

 The note is described as a " plaintive moan " or " a mixture of a 

 purr and a coo," the bird when calling raising its feathers and 

 turning about like a courting pigeon. This tiny bird is the 

 smallest of our game birds, but, like the tallest, the sarus crane, 

 is rather a bird for the aviculturist than the sportsman ; if one 

 wants to eat small birds, larks would be more worth shooting 

 both for sport and for eating purposes. Besides the name Dabki, 

 which means " squatter," this little bird rejoices in several others 

 — Tiirra, Libbia and Ghimnaj, in Hindustani ; Telia dabbagimdlu 

 in Telugu, and Darioi at Katnagiri. Yet we are told that 

 natives, unless professional bird-catchers, generally consider it 

 simply as a young quail of sorts, and certainly it has all the 

 appearance of a young bird which ought to grow up into some- 

 thing quite different. 



Nicobar Megapode. 



Megapodius nicobariensis. 



" Megapode " means big foot, and our single species, like 

 Hercules, can be identified by its foot only, though, as it only 

 inhabits the Nicobars, and the only other game-bird there is 

 the local race of yellow-legged button-quail, which is neither big 

 in body nor in foot, there is not much likelihood of anyone 

 getting it often or mistaking it for anything else. 



