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GAME-BIRDS OF INDIA 



Their diet is mainly a vegetarian one, consisting for the most part 

 of seeds and grain, and to a very small extent of young shoots and 

 buds ; but they will also eat small insects of all kinds — white ants, 

 beetles, larva-, etc. — but never, as far as I can ascertain, worms or 

 similar items of food. 



When they first arrive in India, the flocks consist entirely of one 

 sex, either male birds only or females only ; but as the season 

 advances the flocks seem to become mixed, and some time before 

 they take their departure they will be found to contain about equal 

 numbers of either sex. I have been told that the first few flocks 

 to reach India will invariably be found to consist of males, but, 

 though this is quite possibly correct, I have not as yet been able to 

 verify it. 



For the table they are generally said to be good, though, as usual, 

 opinions differ somewhat on this point. Jerdon writes: " The flesh 

 is mixed brown and white on the breast, though somewhat tough 

 when fresh, and perhaps requiring to be skinned, it is reckoned 

 delicious eating ; indeed, one writer says that it is the finest game- 

 bird for the table in India." 



Whitaker's description of the habits of Pterocles orientalis (Birds 

 of Tunisia, p. 236) in Tunis agrees well with that given by Hume ; 

 he writes : — 



The present species is eminently a denizen of the plains, and 

 more particularly semi-desert plains, where sandy hillocks, strewn 

 with stones and dotted with patches of Haifa-grass are a characteristic 

 feature of the country. The tops of these hillocks or mounds are 

 favourite resorts of the birds during the middle of the day for 

 resting, or basking in the sun, and possibly also for roosting at night. 

 In these spots the birds remain quietly for the greater part of the 

 day and do not leave them except for drinking and feeding purposes. 

 Like other Sand-Grouse, P. arenarius is chiefly to be seen during the 

 early morning and evening hours, when on its way to and from its 

 drinking and feeding haunts. It is said to drink regularly twice a 

 day, but in Tunisia I never observed the bird drinking except in the 

 morning. To reach the water they often travel a great distance, 

 but no doubt do this with the greatest ease, being remarkably strong 

 and swift on the wing. When rising from the ground the rattling 

 noise this species makes, probably with its wings, is most peculiar, 

 and unlike that of any other bird with which I am acquainted. The 

 note it utters when on the wing, and which may be heard at a great 



