THE DHAYAL 21 



with the rich in Nepal where it is kept like 

 gamecocks for fighting. 



It is one of the most widely distributed 

 birds in India and is found everywhere 

 except in the extreme North-west beyond 

 the Punjab. In Rajputana and westwards, 

 the desert tracts are too arid for its 

 habitation. It is, however, found 

 in Kathiawar, Sind, and in and 

 around Karachi, whence it departs in April 

 with the advent of summer. Eastwards it 

 is abundant and is an inevitable feature of 

 bird life everywhere — both in the Sub-Hima- 

 layan regions from Mussoorie eastwards, and 

 the hills and plains of Aryavarta. In Ben- 

 gal, no place is unrepresented up to the very 

 base of the Himalayas, where it is not seen 

 liigher up than the Terais. Thence its range 

 extends up to Burma. Though not so 

 abundant in the Deccan, it is pretty 

 numerous along the Hills in the West, and 

 in the lowlands of the Madras Presidency 

 in the East. It is distributed throughout 

 the whole island of Ceylon. 



