36 'JUUIIXAL, BOMBAY XATUltAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 

 : cilie then made straight tracks for tlie dense 2'rass where the 



tmale bird was calling 



'■ I went out qn.ite alone on this watching expedition, and all 

 nvas quite cjuiet, and the birds were at their ease ; but while I was 

 «till in the tree, a man came into the preserve with some cattle, 

 :and then I saw both birds spring several times silenth/, and after 

 ithat I saw or heard nothing of them. 



Mr. Davidson also describes this quaint habit at some length ; 

 ihe says: — " The Florican breeds all round Sholapur, in considera- 

 ible numbers, wherever there are grass preserves with long grass. 

 During the breeding season they seem chiefly to haunt the thin- 

 .nest patches of long grass rather than those full of small bushes ; 

 ithey are at this period exceedingly difficult to flush, particularly 

 ithe hens, which, even if you succeed in forcing them to rise, get 

 aip only at your feet and make but very short flights. The cocks 

 .are not quite so difficult to flush, but you are obliged to run towards 

 them, to get even them up : if you simply walk after them they will 

 irarely rise. Their whereabouts are, however, generally easily dis- 

 . covered by their frog-like call, and their occasional sudden jumps 

 up into the air. They do not seem to call much when the sun is 

 Hjright, but chiefly in the morning and during cloudy days. I have 

 .often watched them flying or jumping up, but I am still uncertain 

 vwhy they do it. My original impression was that they sprung up 

 to seize insects from the grass stalks, but I have long abandoned 

 -.this idea, as they rise much above the grass. Moreover, I have 

 -only seen one bird thus rise that could have been a female and 

 ,this was dark-coloured, and probably a male that had not assumed 

 Ibreeding plumage, and I am inclined to consider these sudden 

 jflio-hts as simply one of those bridal displays so common in the 

 males, especially of gallinaceous birds, such as the flapping of the 

 vwines in Pheasants, the nautch of the Peacock, the lek of the 



to 



•Capercailzie, and the pouch-inflated strut of the big Bustard, and 

 iif it can be certainly established that this habit is confined to the 

 imales no alternative solution seems open to us," 



The Lesser Florican is unlike most of its family " in India at all 

 • events " in that it is monogamous, whereas the others are either 

 polygamous or "promiscuous" and the male is said to remain with, 



