264 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



the males and some of the females ascend 

 to near the limits of the forests where the 

 hills attain a great elevation, and may often 

 be seen on the grassy slopes a consider- 

 able distance above. In autumn they 

 resort to those parts of the forests where 

 the ground is thickly covered with decayed 

 leaves, under which they search for grubs ; 

 and descend lower and lower as winter 

 sets in, and the ground becomes frozen or 

 covered with snow. ... In the forest, 

 when alarmed, it generally rises at once 

 without calling or running far on the 

 ground ; but on the open glades or grassy 

 slopes, or any place to which it comes 

 only to feed, it will, if not hard pressed, 

 run or walk slowly away in preference to 

 getting up ; and a distant bird, when 

 alarmed by the rising of others, will occa- 

 sionally begin and continue calling for 

 some time while on the ground. It gets 

 up with a loud fluttering and a rapid 

 succession of shrill screeching whistles, 

 often continued till it alights, when it 

 occasionally commences its ordinary loud 

 and plaintive call and continues it for 

 some time." 



The Common Moonal breeds in May 

 and June, laying its eggs in a depression 

 in the ground at the foot of some rock 



