i8o Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



Himalayas, and its habits may be gathered 

 from the following brief accounts, taken 

 from various sources. 



" Mountaineer" as quoted by Dr. Jerdon 

 says : — " In autumn and winter they keep 

 in loose scattered flocks, very numerous, 

 sometimes to the number of forty or fifty 

 or even a hundred. In summer, though 

 not entirely separated, they are seldom 

 in large flocks, and a single pair is often 

 met with. They are partial to dry stony 

 spots, never go into forest, and in the 

 lower hills seem to prefer the grassy hill- 

 sides to the cultivated fields." 



Dr. Scully observes : — " The Chukor 

 is common on certain parts of the hills 

 round the valley of Nepal, at elevations of 

 from five to six thousand i^^i from March 

 to October. It frequents rounded grassy 

 hills, where the small nullahs are fringed 

 with bushes, and where there is no forest ; 

 in such localities, especially near patches 

 of cultivation and on bits of stony ground, 

 flocks of Chukor are sure to be found. 

 About the end of October the birds 

 descend the hills and assemble on the 

 confines of the warmer valleys for the 

 winter, where they can feed in the rice 

 fields which have been reaped, in fields 

 of growing corn, etc." 



