310 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII. 
“40, 50, or even 100.” In spring, of course, they separate, and then 
in pairs attend to their domestic duties. 
At this time of the year they are very pugnacious and their loud 
challenges may be heard in every direction in places where they are 
at all numerous. Hume describes their call as follows :— 
“The tone varies, first he says ‘I’m here, I’m _ here,’ then he 
asks ‘ Who’s dead ? Who's dead ? and when heisinformed of the 
untimely decease of his pet brother and favourite sister, or 
perhaps his eldest son and heir, he responds, ‘ Oh lor! Oh lor!’ 
in quite a mournful tone.” 
In India he is not much used as a fighting bird in captivity except 
in North-west Kashmir and a few other parts, but his cousins over 
most of the range inhabited by them are very commonly kept for this 
purpose. His character for pluck and pugnacity has ranked very 
high from the time of the Romans, and then, as now, large sums were 
won and lost over the victory or defeat of a favourite bird. 
They are very easy to tame, whether caught adult or reared from the 
egg, and soon learn to know their masters and to follow them. They 
are usually kept in small cages, but are daily allowed out, practically 
without any restraint, and allowed to wander about in search of food, 
much like a farm-yard fowl. In the Grecian islands,’ as a matter of 
fact, they seem to be kept just as any other domestic birds are, being 
driven out in flocks during the day, and then recalled in the evening 
by the children. They associate with the other members of the farm- 
yard quite amicably, although during the breeding season the cocks 
fight so desperately amongst themselves. 
Hume thought them to be almost entirely vegetarians, eating only 
seeds, grains, etc., and helping their digestion with numerous small 
stones. Doubtlessthey are mainly seed-eaters, but they also eat all 
kinds of small insects, especially ants, as well as caterpillars, grubs and 
larvee. 
From a sporting point of view the Chukor ranks fairly high amongst 
our Indian game-birds, though he can nowhere be bagged in the vast 
numbers that snipe, and grouse, duck and some of our other birds are 
sometimes shot. 
They lie fairly well, though when first disturbed, they sometimes 
run a considerable distance before consenting to be flushed, but after 
the first flight they seldom run unless the country is absolutely bare, 
and even then, after running a short distance, they will generally squat 
close until one gets within a few feet of them, when with a whirr and 
-atush they are off again. They fly fast and strongly and carry shot 
well for their size, and as the flocks after first being flushed often 
scatter considerably, they furnish a number of shots, and, let us 
hope, a satisfactory number of kills, from the same covey. 
Apparently the number of birds to be found in the present day is much 
the same as they were fifty years ago. With hard work and long 
iis. 
EEE Le 
