Notices of Books. 9395 



is by far the most agreeable song of all our game birds. This note is 

 only heard when the bird is at rest ; when alarmed and walking away, 

 it sometimes utters at short intervals a single low whistle, and when 

 it gets on the wing the whistles are shrill and very rapid. However 

 far it flies the whistling is continued until it alights, and for a few 

 seconds afterwards, but then slightly changed in tone to a few notes, 

 which seem in a strange manner to express satisfaction at being again 

 on the ground. However odd the comparison, I can compare the 

 whistling of these birds, when flying and alighting, to nothing but the 

 difference in sound produced by the wings of a flock of pigeons when 

 flying, and when alighting on some spot where they have to flutter a few 

 seconds before they can gain footing. The jer-moonal is not remark- 

 ably wild or shy. When approached from below, on a person getting 

 within eighty or a hundred yards, they move slowly up-hill or slanting 

 across, often turning to look back, and do not go very far unless fol- 

 lowed. If approached from above, they fly off" at once, without walking 

 many yards from the spot. They seldom in any situation walk far 

 down-hill, and never run except for a few yards when about to take 

 wing. The whole flock get up together ; the flight is rapid, down- 

 wards at first, and then curving so as to alight nearly on the same 

 level. Where the hill is open and of great extent, it is often, for up- 

 wards of a mile, at a considerable height in the air; when more cir- 

 cumscribed, as is often the case on the hills they frequent in winter, 

 it is of shorter duration, perhaps merely across or into the next ridge. 

 They feed on the leaves of plants and grass, and occasionally on moss, 

 roots and flowers ; grass forms by far the greater portion. They are 

 very partial to the young blade of wheat and barley, when it is first 

 springing up and while it remains short ; and should there be an iso- 

 lated patch on the hill where they are, visit it regularly night and 

 morning. They never, however, come into what may be called the 

 regular cultivation. They are generally exorbitantly fat, but the flesh 

 is not particularly good, and it has often an unpleasant flavour when 

 the bird is killed at a high elevation, probably owing to some of the 

 plants it there feeds upon. Though I have spent many summers on 

 the snowy ranges I never found the nest or eggs, but in Thibet I 

 often met with broods of young ones newly hatched. There were, 

 however, several old birds, and probably more than one brood of 

 chicks, so I could form no correct idea of the number in one brood. 

 They are hardy birds and easily kept in confinement, but, though they 

 will eat grain, I doubt if they will live long without an occasional sup- 

 ply of their natural green food of grass and plants. They may be kept 



