304 GAME-BIRDS OF INDIA 



ploughed lield in a moment, it does speak well for their clwwkidars 

 that none of these little Sand-Grouse ever seem to fall victims to 

 these midnight marauders. 



Still native fowlers will at times surpiise them, and during dark 

 nights, in some fashion, creep up and drop a net over the entire party. 

 The net used is a very light one, a truncated triangle about 8 feet 

 wide at bottom, 4 feet at top, and about 4 feet wide, attached to two 

 light slender bamboos, each about 8 feet long. The covey is marked 

 as it goes to roost, and then the man about 11 o'clock (the night 

 must be dark, and is all the better for being windy) steals up and 

 drops the net over the whole pack. I went out several nights to try 

 and be present at a capture, but on only one occasion were any 

 caught, and then only two, but a few nights after, the men, who were 

 akerias, and who were still in my camp, snaring ducks and quails, 

 brought in some forty, that they professed to have caught in this way 

 in one haul, and they were polite enough to hint that it was the bad 

 smell of a European that had foiled their efforts on previous 

 occasions. They were doubtless humbugging in some way, but one 

 thing is certain, they do constantly manage to catch whole packs in 

 some way or other during dark nights, and are therefore, though they 

 certainly do not look so, considerably sharper than the beasts of the 

 field." 



The only way of making a big bag of Sand-Grouse is to wait for 

 them at their drinking-place, but in this way very big bags indeed 

 can be made, especially when arrangements are made to prevent the 

 birds watering at any other pieces of water within a radius of some 

 miles, as is done sometimes when " big wigs " have to be provided 

 with sport. 



During the non-breeding season shooting over water is legitimate 

 enough, for the Common Sand-Grouse are strong and good fliers, fly 

 high, and take a lot of hitting before they drop. They must, how- 

 ever, be given a rest during the principal breeding-season, if this 

 can be defined, and, where it cannot, then the normal season must 

 be allowed them, and the birds forced to adapt themselves to it. 



When thirsty they must drink, and it takes a lot of shooting to 

 drive them away even temporarily, but Hume mentions a case in the 

 Sirsa district in which the cruel sport was practised by two guns 

 down at the water's edge and a great number killed, and during the 

 next week a large number of eggs were found deserted and destroyed 

 (I suppose by crows and and mongooses) in what was known to be a 

 favourite breeding-place, two or three miles from the tank. 



