io8 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



very early morning in a tiny patch of 

 ground a few yards square, thickly covered 

 with large tufts of freshly springing ele- 

 phant grass. This patch had recently 

 been burnt ; probably it had been fired 

 by design, but the fire had not spread, 

 and all around for many hundreds of 

 yards stretched a dense unbroken thicket 

 of elephant grass, fifteen feet high, and 

 so thickly set that it was next to im- 

 possible to force one's way through it. 

 I did not see the birds myself, as I was 

 a few yards to the right, but two of my 

 people, on whom I could rely, saw them 

 distinctly as they ran into the high grass, 

 and described them to me as small 

 blackish Partridges of an unknown kind. 

 " There were about two square miles 

 of high grass covering very uneven and 

 broken ground, and it seemed hopeless to 

 beat it, as we had no elephants and no 

 dogs. So sending every one away quietly, 

 I ensconced myself in the high grass on 

 the opposite side of the little opening to 

 the place at which the birds had dis- 

 appeared, and stood patiently waiting for 

 about two hours. When it became too 

 late to hope for their reappearance (this 

 kind of bird rarely feeds in the open after 

 9 a.m.), I recalled my men and set to 



