TRE GAME BIRDS OF IXDIA, BURMA AXJJ CEYLOX. 71?9- 



of the year here and I presume the}- only come here to breed and 

 I think only a few come even then, as the grassy land they seem" 

 to like is very limited in extent." 



This record, therefore, though confirming the presence of Likk 

 in and about Gorakhpur during the breeding season does awa}- 

 with the theory of a " permanent colony " and infers that these- 

 birds, as well as those which reach Nepal migrate from a good)' 

 deal further south than Hume imagined. From Bihar Mr. Inglis 

 reports them as decidedly rare and has not seen man}- himself.- 

 He tells me that he has skins of birds shot in Bihar in April and. 

 May, in one case that of a male just assuming breeding plumage. 



The Lesser Florican is undoubtedly locally migrator}-, but, as 

 Hume remarks, its migrations are most uncertain and irregulai" 

 and are probably governed by the state of the rains and foodi 

 suppl}" and possibly by other factors not yet known either to field 

 naturalists or scientists. At present, all that can be said is that 

 during the breeding season the birds seem to concentrate in 

 suitable places in the centre of their habitat and after this season 

 is over to disperse, more or less, in all four quarters, stragglers- 

 then appearing far from any of their favourite haunts. Hill'? 

 ranges certainly divert and interrupt these local migrations to a 

 great extent wherever met with, and it is more than possible that 

 the bigger rivers, such as the Jumna, may have a similar efFect.- 

 At the same time, the Lesser Florican does surmount some Hill 

 ranges, for the}- migrate into the Valley of Nepal, as alread}- 

 recorded, and it has been shot on the Nilgherries as well. 



The Likh, or Lesser Florican, is not gregarious like those- 

 Bustards with which we have alread}^ dealt. In suitable country,, 

 of course, many birds may be met with in the same extent of 

 grass land, but they will be found at some distance apart, never 

 in flocks, and though sometimes in pairs yet more often singly,. 

 except in the breeding season. 



This little Bustard, according to Jerdon," frequents long grass; 

 in preference to any other shelter. It is, however, often to be- 

 met with in green fields, in fields of Cotton and Dholl, and, in 

 the Oarnatic, so much in those of the grain called Warragoo, as; 

 to be called in Tamil, Warrago Koler, or Warragoo Fowl." 



