TH£ GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 605 



trapped me a specimen, a male on its eggs, on the Sliillong Peak, 

 which is about 6,000 feet. As a rule, though, in both these 

 districts the birds do not wander much over 4,000 feet, and only as 

 high as this in the hot weather. 



In N. Cachar I found it occasionally in grass lands or in bamboo 

 jungle with light undergrowth, but, more often in the dense secondary 

 growth, which grows very rapidly on all deserted ex-cultivated land. 

 Out of such jungle I got several of these birds when beating for 

 Jungle Fowl. On the wing it is impossible to discriminate between 

 the Button Quail and the Bustard Quail, so that until I had picked 

 the bird up, I could never say vvhich it was. As a rule they would 

 just fly across the path where I stood awaiting the beaters, and then 

 make their headlong dive into the jungle on the far side. Being then 

 loaded with big shot, it was useless firing, but the beat over, I would 

 sometimes have the jungle again beaten, and then my gun being 

 loaded with No. 10, would often get a shot as the small birds 

 footed it, at racing pace, across the open. As a rule I found I had 

 bagged a Bustard Quail, but every now and then one of these would 

 be picked up. 



My own impression is that the Burmese Button Quail is not hard 

 to flush the first time he is disturbed. True, he does not get up 

 until you are almost on him, and if not approached within a few 

 feet, or even inches, will remain quietly where he is, and not rise 

 at all. But he does not run at first, and if approached near enough, 

 he always rises and goes awEiy on the wing, but once he has again 

 dropped, he will run great distances and refuse to rise unless 

 absolutely forced to do so. Generally, indeed, if compelled to pass 

 over small open spaces, he will do so on foot in preference to taking 

 to flight. 



On one occasion, when w^aiting for a leopard which used to come 

 and drink at a pool near mj house, I was enabled to watch the 

 actions of a cock bird and his three chicks for some time. I was 

 seated on the ground in a comparatively open space in some thin 

 bush jungle, which grew round a Oachari village, and shortly after 

 dawn, a cock Button Quail came down to drink, leaving his little 

 family a foot or two behind him whilst he came down to the edge 

 of the pool. The young, which were two or three days old, did 

 not drink, but as soon as the little cock had had his fill he came 

 back and began busily turning over and scratching up the sand 

 apparently hunting for ants. He was so close to me that I could 

 distinctly hear him now and then give a little " chuck," whereupon 

 his children gathered round him, and he would then present one 

 with some insect or other article too small for me to see what it was. 

 As far as I could watch the young ones — they wei-e so quick and 

 restless that they w^ere hard to follow — they picked up nothing 

 themselves, except once, when their parent took them to a heap of 



