948 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



crossways ; the long ends are inserted into the " horns " and the short ones rest 

 against his chest ; the sheet is now thrown over his head and down his back reach- 

 ing to his ankles and the end with the horns sticks out like a canopy in front of 

 his head ; he ties the sheet round his neck and this keeps the canopy taut ; the 

 rest of the sheet is wrapped round his body. 



The net he uses is made of six strands of cotton twisted into thread and is six 

 feet long by two feet seven inches broad and its mesh has a diameter of about 

 an inch ; it is weighted with baked clay fillets along one side of its length and at 

 the ends of the opposite side a couple of pointed sticks, about eighteen inches 

 long, are tied ; another stick of about the same length being fastened midway 

 between these two. 



This net is slung over his shoulder and he draws the sheet round him, covering 

 his arms. He is now ready and the sport begins. With the cloth well wrapped 

 round his body, the snarer stalks, with short steps and very slowly, through the 

 field, every now and then bowing so as to imitate the motion of a coav's head. 

 When a quail is seen he heads it off and at a short distance in front of it fixes his 

 net the weighted end Ijang fiat on the ground, the opposite side being raised about 

 one foot in the middle and rather lower at the sides, and kept in this position 

 by the three sticks ; this open side is set facing the direction in which the quail 

 is to be driven. The man now circles round the bird so as to get behind it and 

 then the driving commences. Now he moves slowly forward, now sideways, 

 jbowing at intervals and very quietly working the quail towards the net. If 

 the bird appears rather, wild, he slowly assumes a crouching position and crawls 

 along with his head towards the ground to represent a cow grazing ; in this way 

 he guides the quail to the net. Should the quail be fairly tame he does not 

 require to crouch but can work the bird into the net in an erect position. When 

 under the net the quail tries to burst headlong through the meshes instead of 

 running to the side where it could easily escape as the net does not drop. As 

 soon as the snarer sees the bird is inside he rushes forward and cajjtures it and 

 ties it up in his loin cloth. Should the bird pass by the net, it is headed back 

 again or else the catcher takes up the net and fixes it in another position. It is 

 wonderful seeing the quail being worked up to the net, this being done in a most 

 skilful manner. Occasionally more than one bird is captured at a time but as a 

 rule the snarer contents himself with working one unless several keep well 

 together. The birds seldom seem to rise, except in newly worked fields where 

 no cattle are grazed, and if one does fl^^ off the catcher does not as a rule 

 follow it up unless birds are scarce. While stalking, the men have a most 

 weird and ghost-like appearance. 



In Hume's day quail sold even in cities like Lucknow for Rs. 2 to Rs. 2-8-0 a 

 hundred and he bought them in small stations for Re. 1 per hundred. Those 

 days have now gone and like everything else the price of quail has more than 

 doubled. Here in the mofussil they now sell for Rs. 6 to Rs 11 a hundred. 



Baghownie Fty., CH.\S. M. INGLIS, f.z.s., f.e.s., m.b.o.u. 



Lahbeia Sabai, 

 7th March 1921. 



No. XV.— FURTHER NOTES ON INDIAN NIGHTJARS. 



I have read with much interest Mr. Hugh Whistler's article on Punjab 

 Nightjars which appeared in a recent number of the B. N. H. S. Journal (Volume 

 XXVII, No. 2) and I venture to add a few additional notes of my own on the 

 subject of the Indian Nightjars of which I have experience. 



