THE CROW-PHEASANT 227 



parent, for besides the innocent "griff" who shoots the 

 bird in mistake for a pheasant, the lower caste Hindu 

 folk of all parts of India, and most Mohammedans, look 

 upon the flesh of the bird as a great delicacy. Hence 

 the coucal is frequently trapped. 



Yet the bird in Northern India is comparatively 

 tame. In Madras, too, it is trapped ; there are usually 

 two or three wretched-looking crow-pheasants to be 

 seen in the Moore Market. These are kept in cages 

 so small that their tails are crushed up against the 

 wires, and the poor birds look the picture of misery, 

 and are doubtless as unhappy as they look. 



Even worse is the plight of the king-crows which are 

 caught and kept in cages. These birds are, presumably, 

 not eaten, and I do not think they are kept as pets, for 

 so lively a bird as a king-crow could not live long in a 

 cage. They are, presumably, caught and ill-treated 

 merely to induce kind-hearted folk to pay for their 

 liberation. 



This is commonly done with crows. These birds 

 are trapped and then taken to a Brahmin by some 

 disreputable character, who threatens to destroy them, 

 then and there, unless the Brahmin pays for the bird's 

 liberation. It is surely time that these practices should 

 be made punishable by law. 



