'248 GAME-BIRDS OF INDIA 



generally by'cireling get within reach of them, they are by no means 

 all asleep, and the instant you halt or raise a gun, or fix your eyes on 

 any of them, the alarm-note is sounded, and they are off %Yith a 

 strong, rapid flight, which most of us, at one time or another, have 

 found too much for the second barrel. 



" In parts of the country where tliey have not been shot at, 

 especially wlieu they first arrive, you may easily approach within 

 thirty yards, shoot two or three on the ground, and perhaps a couple 

 more as they rise, but after having been worried a good deal they 

 become the wildest birds imaginable, and then the only plan is to get 

 them driven over you, which, with good native fowlers, is almost a 

 certainty, and affords at the same time most difficult shooting and 

 capital sport. It takes a straight eye. No. 3 shot and a hard-hitting 

 gun, to bring down a clean-killed right and left out of a party 

 going over you, thirty to thirty-five yards high, at the pace these 

 birds can go." 



They are very regular and punctual in visiting their drinking- 

 places, more especially in the morning, for this species of Sand-Grouse 

 does not seem to always drink in the evenings. As a rule, the first 

 few birds appear at the river or tank, as the case may be, within an 

 hour and a half after sunrise, and flocks continue to arrive for about 

 two hours, or rather less, after which it is quite useless waiting for other 

 birds to come. In the evening, if they come at all, they generally 

 arrive about a couple of hours before sunset, just as the shadows begin 

 to lengthen and the coolness of the evening becomes apparent. 



Where they have been undisturbed the birds come straight down 

 to the water and take their drink, and a good deal of hustling and 

 squabbling takes place, especially when two or more flocks, or packs 

 as they should be called, arrive at the same time. Where, however, 

 the birds have been much shot at, the packs will come down at a 

 great pace, high overhead, and often take two or three circles round 

 in the air before they venture down to the water. 



Even when they drink from big rivers these Grouse seem to have 

 certain places which they favour more than others, but it is when 

 they drink at tanks and other small pieces of water that the native, 

 and often indeed the European sportsman, takes the heaviest toll of 

 them. At such places the shooter hides himself either in a hole in 

 the ground or else behind such cover as may be available ; and, if 

 suitably dressed and sufficiently quiet in his movements, may be 



