418 LARGE GAME. CHAP. ix. 



and the head and neck nude and of a bluish colour, while 

 its throat is red ; but it is so seldom seen that it affords 

 no sport, though, as well as being a more beautiful, it is a 

 larger and more delicate bird than the other. The latter, 

 however, under some circumstances and in some spots, 

 may be bagged in considerable numbers, but as a general 

 rule they are so fleet and so shy and wary that though 

 one may be passing through a country swarming with 

 them, and may hear their peculiar kek, kek, kek, every 

 morning and evening, days may often elapse without one 

 being seen. In February and March, when the young 

 broods are getting pretty strong, they may be treed by 

 dogs accustomed to the work, and then are easily enough 

 shot ; and if the jungle is not too thick, and the birds at 

 all plentiful, there should be no difficulty in killing more 

 than one can carry. It is, however, neither a very sports- 

 manlike nor a very pleasant proceeding, as it must per 

 force be done during the heat of the day, and the covers 

 are often dense and difficult to penetrate. A far more 

 agreeable plan is to go out during their feeding-time and 

 stalk them, guided by their cry, and if possible to cut 

 them off from the adjoining thickets, and if in that way 

 one succeeds in breaking up a pack among the long grass, 

 there is every chance of making a good bag, as they will 

 keep on the move, squatting for a few minutes after every 

 shot, and continually calling to each other; they may 

 then, with the assistance of a dog, be flushed separately, 

 and being heavy birds, slow at rising, and as easy to shoot 

 as a pheasant, few ought to escape. 



Besides the ones that I have enumerated, there are no 

 other game birds to be found in the forests or thorns, unless 



