THE GAME BIRDS 01 INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 223 



It has also been procured near the Orakzai, about half way be- 

 tween Bannu and Peshawar, and it is probable it will be found all 

 along the foot of these hills. Mr. H. G. 0. Bridgeman, in writing 

 to me, says that they are comparatively common on the " Kala Chitta 

 and neighbouring hills just South of Campbellpore dui'ing October 



and it is difficult to believe that they never cross the River 



Indus, as opposite to where the Kala Chitta Hills meet this river, 

 exactly similar ground is almost within stone's throw." 



The habits of the Painted Sand-Grouse are very different from 

 those of the Common Sand-Grouse, our one other Indian resident 

 Avhich can compare with it in numbers. It is essential for this bird 

 that it should have a certain amotmt of cover, and where this is 

 absent, so will the bird be. Its favourite resorts are low rocky hills 

 and the country immediately surrounding them, but the soil must 

 be comparatively dry and the cover must be neither too dense nor 

 too sparse. Tree and evergreen jungle it seldom enters and it pre- 

 fers low scrub jungle, especially such as is rather sparse and 

 scattered and which is broken up by niTmerous stoney ravines and 

 dry, or nearly dry, water-courses. 



They are seldom found in large flocks, more often in pairs than 

 anything else, and, according to Hume, seldom in packs of over ten, 

 which is the largest pack he has personally seen. 



Mr. Bridgeman writes that he always found the birds in small 

 parties of four or five, that is to say, in small family parties consisting 

 of the parent birds and their last brood. 



Occasionally, however, it does collect in much larger flocks and 

 some of my correspondents, mention packs of over one hundred. 

 Mr. E. Phythian Adams says : " When marching through the Berars, 

 at one of our halting places, we put up about 200 from a scrub, 

 covered hill. At other times I have only seen a few together." 



So, also, Nurse in this Journal (in loc cif) records : " It is usually 

 found only in small flocks, but this morning when shooting over 

 some ravines covered with a little grass and a few bushes, I came 

 across a large number, not less than two or three hundred. They 

 were chiefly in flocks of from two to six, but there were several 

 packs of ten or a dozen, and one flock of sixty or eighty birds. 

 They were very wary and I seldom succeeded in getting within 

 thirty yards of them. However, I managed to shoot twenty one, 

 which is the largest number of this species I have ever killed in a 

 day, chiefly by standing behind a bush and having them driven to- 

 wards me. I could certainly have got more if I had cared to stay 

 later, as they did not fly to any great distance and could generally 

 be marked down." 



Capt. A. H. Mosse sends me a very interesting account of this 

 Sand-Grouse's habits, which shows well the many ways in which it 

 difiers from the majority of its relatives. Captain Mosse writes : 



