288 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



"They are the most difficult birds I 

 know of to approach ; a male is heard 

 calling, and you gradually follow up the 

 sound, taking care not to make the slightest 

 noise, till at last the bird calls within a 

 few yards of you and is only hidden by 

 the denseness of the intervening foliage ; 

 you creep forward, hardly daring to 

 breathe, and suddenly emerge on the 

 open space, but the space is empty ; the 

 bird has either caught sight of or heard or 

 smelt you, and has run off quietly. They 

 will never rise even when pursued by a 

 dog if they can possibly avoid it, but 

 run very swiftly away, always choosing the 

 densest and most impenetrable part of 



the forest to retreat through 



The males are not at all quarrelsome, 

 and apparently never interfere with each 

 other, though they will answer each other's 

 calls. The call of the male sounds like 

 ^ hozv-how,^ repeated ten or a dozen times, 

 and is uttered at short intervals when the 

 bird is in its clearing, one commencing 

 and others in the neighbourhood answer- 

 ing. The report of a gun will set every 

 male within hearing calling, and on the 

 least alarm or excitement, such as a troop 

 of monkeys passing overhead, they call. 

 The call of the female is quite distinct, 



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