206 THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 



" When living at Mount Aboo some years ago, I shot numer- 

 ous Jungle- Fowl at the foot of the hill, in the cold weather, 

 and always found them (old and young of both sexes) excel- 

 lent eating-, reminding one of the flavour of an English Phea- 

 sant. On turning to the account of the bird in the first 

 volume of the Game Birds, I was surprized to find it cried 

 down as an article of food, and intended writing to you before ; 

 however, perhaps it is as well I delayed doing so, as my opi- 

 nion now is changed from the following circumstance : — At 

 the beginning of March, this year, I shot a pair of Jungle- 

 Fowl {male and female) near Belgaum, in the afternoon, and 

 in the evening after returning home my butler said they smelt 

 so strong that he did not consider them fit for table. Having 

 decided upon skinning them, I had them put upon one side till 

 the following day, when I discovered that the strong odour, 

 referred to by the butler, arose from the crops of the birds 

 being charged to the muzzle with human excrement. 



" This may be an exceptional case, but as food is scarce in 

 the hot weather, I have no doubt myself that, at that season, 

 they feed constantly upon the filth I have mentioned, so 

 recommend those who regard the flesh as ' palatable and gamey' 

 to satisfy themselves in future before ordering them for table, 

 as to the source from which that ' gamey' flavour is 

 produced. 



a I may add that two Pea- Fowl, shot the same day, had their 

 crops also bulged with the same disgusting food, and yet all 

 of the birds were shot in a wild jungle far away from any 

 village, and where only a few wood-cutters existed. In the 

 cold weather and in the rains, when food is abundant,' I dare 

 say they may be fit for table, and indeed I know from expe- 

 rience that they are excellent eating ; but in the hot weather, 

 when their natural food is scarce, there can be no doubt, from 

 the above facts, that they are the foulest of feeders, as also 

 are the Grey and Black Partridges, some of the Button- Quails, 

 and numerous other species of so-called Game Birds that I 

 could mention/' 



E. A. Butler, Captain, H. M.'s 3rd Regt. 



The Painted Spur-Fowl. (Vol. I., pp. 255, et seq.) — 



" I have shot the Painted Spur-Fowl in the wooded rocky 

 hills in the south of Allahabad. They are fairly common there. ' r 



A. M. Mabkham, c.s. 



" I have shot the Painted Spur-Fowl at Rhotas, a place 30 or 

 40 miles up the Sone from Dehree, where the grand trunk road 



