THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 199 



shoots are no longer possible, but still good bags can be had with 

 time available and proper arrangements made, and the charm is as 

 great as ever. 



The very cry of this Partridge is a sporting one : " Che-chirree 

 chick-chiree " ringing out in the early morning before the sun is 

 up or the dew off the grass urges the sluggard out of bed. Some- 

 times the first two words are repeated twice, but generally only the 

 six syllables are uttered, the emphasis being placed on the 

 " chick " and the last syllable of the cry. It is so joyous and 

 musical a call that it cannot but appeal to every lover of Nature, 

 even if he is not a sportsman bent on the murder of the utterer of 

 the cry. 



The Black Partridge is a satisfactory bird to shoot, for he rises 

 quite well for an Indian game-bird, gets away fairly quickly, and 

 flies strong and straight, though not at the pace of an English 

 Partridge. Moreover he does not require such hard hitting as one 

 generally takes him as he flies away from the shooter and so he 

 does not present the tough shield of breast feathers presented by 

 the driven bird. 



Big coveys are the exception, for the birds soon separate when 

 the young are old enough to look after themselves, and though 

 the cocks and hens keep together throughout the year, even they 

 often wander about some distance apart, so that often shots can be 

 obtained at more than one member of a covey or at both the two 

 birds of a pair. 



Shooting with a few beaters in grass or crops is the form of sport 

 with this bird most often indulged in, and from a shooting point of 

 view is certainly the easiest, but birds can also be driven from one 

 piece of cover to another, and then afford faster, harder shots, 

 more like those obtained at a drive of Partridges at home. 



In the hills which they ascend certainly up to 6,000 or 7,000 feet, 

 Dodsworth records them at 8,000 in the Simla Hills, one must use 

 dogs to work the heavier jungle which they there frequent, and even 

 then one can hardly hope for bags of any size judging by the 

 standard of the Plains. 



Hume describes the joys of a Black Partridge shoot from elephants 

 a sport often indulged in even now, but generally at the end of some 

 tiger or big game shoot, when it no longer matters about disturbing 

 or frightening away the real object of the day's outing. He says 

 that Black Partridge are easy to shoot in such circumstances, and 

 that he saw a Col. Congreve kill with ball cartridge in consecutive 

 shots 6 Black Partridge ! ! 



The natives trap the males in very large numbers to keep as pets. 

 The method adopted is the universal one of surrounding a decoy 

 bird with nooses so that when the wild bird hears the challenge of 



