GREAT ROCK-PARTRIDGE. 237 



the pursuit of the sportsman, who is often baffled by 

 the perpendicular descents and the great extent of 

 loose rock. Although rarely hunted by the natives 

 it is nevertheless extremely shy and not easily seen, 

 owing to its grey plumage closely assimilating with 

 the colour of the rocks. 



Early in the morning and towards evening it 

 flies to the grassy knolls Avhere it feeds. I never 

 detected insects in its crop ; its favourite food in 

 summer consisting of the heads of wild onions which 

 grow in abundance on the alpine meadows. 



There are five to ten chicks in a brood, over 

 which the parent birds watch with anxious solicitude. 

 If danger be near, particularly when the young are 

 very small, the old birds will run about twenty paces 

 from the sportsman and try to attract his attention 

 by feigning lameness or illness, as our partridges will 

 often do at home. Chickless pairs, whose eggs have 

 most likely been destroyed by the frost, are not 

 uncommon, and the probable frequency of these 

 mishaps may account for their comparatively small 

 numbers in the Kan-su mountains and the ranges of 

 Northern Tibet.^ 



Another characteristic bird of the alpine zone of 

 the Kan-su mountains is the snow-vulture {Gyps 

 nivicola)^ resembling in its mode of life and habits 

 other species belonging to the same family, and 



^ This hailik or Mcgaloperdix is probably the ' Great Partridge,' 

 which Marco Polo mentions in the Great Khan's mews at Chaghan-nor, 

 Bk. I. chap. Ix.— Y. 



- The black vulture {I'ul/ur momir/iKs) is but rarcK' seen in Kan-su. 



