FOR NORTHERN INDIA 122 



to winter in South India. It is a smaller 

 bird than the ordinary grey quail and has 

 no pale cross-bars on the primary wing feathers. 

 The males of this species are held in high 

 esteem by Indians as fighting birds. Large 

 numbers of them are netted in the same way 

 as the grey quail. Some captive birds are set 

 down in a covered cage by a sugar-cane field 

 in the evening. Their calls attract a number 

 of wild birds, which settle down in the sugar- 

 cane in order to spend the day there. At 

 dawn a net is quietly stretched across one end 

 of the field. A rope is then slowly dragged 

 along over the growing crop in the direction 

 of the net. This sends all the quail into the 

 net. 



Very fair sport may be obtained in July by 

 shooting rain-quail that have been attracted 

 by call birds. 



July marks the end of one breeding season 

 and the beginning of another. As regards 

 the nesting season, birds fall into four classes. 

 There is the very large class that nests in 

 spring and summer. Next in importance is 

 the not inconsiderable body that rears up its 

 broods in the rains when the food supply is 

 most abundant. Then comes the small com- 



