SYPHEOTIS BENGALENSIS 231 



unless there is no other more suitable ground within many miles. 

 Of course, when repeatedly shot at, birds will temporarily take refuge 

 in such cover, and sometimes, when they are much worried by sports- 

 men or village pot-hunters, they will lie up in heavy cover during 

 the heat of the day, coming out to feed in the mornings and 

 evenings. 



Mr. A. Primrose, who was for some years in Goalpara, in writing 

 to me about the Florican, says : — 



" It has a very decided predilection for certain spots, and if you 

 kill the present occupant another is sure to be very shortly found 

 in the same place ; one such spot was the grazing-ground of the 

 ^lornai Tea Estate, and on this piece of land I must have accounted 

 for fully a dozen birds and my predecessor for as many more. 



"The birds, as a rule, in grass-lands lie very close and rise 

 generally well within shot, and as tliey are not what I should call 

 good shot-carriers, No. fi shot will be found quite large enough to 

 crumple them up. As a matter of fact I have killed two or three — 

 all females if I remember rightly — with collecting cartridges only 

 loaded with No. 9 or 10 shot. When, however, the bird is found 

 in open or burnt patches it is exceedingly wary and very hard to 

 get right within shot. 



"The flight, when well on the wing, while not being rapid, is 

 strong and direct." 



I have occasionally shot them when out snipe-shooting, flushing 

 them from small patches of grass between the rice-fields, and No. 8 

 or 9 shot have always been enough to tumble them over ; for, though 

 big birds, their plumage is soft and lax, and affords little protection. 



When once flushed they generally fly a good distance, sometimes 

 a mile or so, before alighting, and are then difficult to find and to 

 flush again, as they are great runners and move on a long distance 

 before stopping. 



Hodgson says : — 



" The Florican is seldom found in thick cover. When he is, 

 he lies close, so that you may flush him at your foot ; hut in his 

 ordinary haunts, amid the scattered tufts of more open grass plats, 

 he can be neared with difficulty only, and No. 5 shot and a good 

 lieavy gun are required to bring him down at forty to sixty yards' 

 distance. His flight is strong, with a frequent, rapid, even motion of 



