SMALL GAME 71 



roosts on trees. Again, it is much larger 

 than any of the American colins, with the 

 white collar less distinctly developed. In 

 the northern part of China, to which it seems 

 limited, this appreciated bird is ordinarily 

 found in small coveys, though as many as 

 fifteen have been counted in a single covey in 

 the pine and bamboo copses and frequently in 

 the high thick flag grass so often to be met 

 with on the borders of the creeks. A covey 

 will run unseen before the guns for an in- 

 credible distance, but when pushed to an 

 extreme will flush suddenly in all directions, 

 affording what has not been inaptly describ- 

 ed as a pyrotechnic display. But should 

 they rise in the v/ood itself they will be very 

 likely to settle on the branches, on which 

 they crouch so closely as to make discovery 

 very difficult. Sometimes, however, this 

 wily little bird is caughc napping, and as 

 many as a dozen, squatting on the espaliered 

 branch of a Magnolia, have been known to 

 fall when the smoke from a siugle discharge 

 has cleared away, — an unsportsmanlike mas- 

 sacre ! When wounded the bamboo partridge 

 utters a cry piteous to hear, and long to be 

 remembered, if ever forgotten. 



