BLACK-BREASTED KALEEGE 47 



whatever the species, is doubtless the worst foe of the kaleege. When I saw how it was 

 possible, by crawling flat upon the ooze, to creep close to a bird intent upon demolishing 

 a termite nest, I realized how the dread feline — mottled and small — could creep easily 

 within striking distance. And yet the birds were ever on the alert, the head, with its 

 brilliant facial skin, shooting up and turning in every direction between each hasty 

 peck. 



Even more than the other kaleege the Black-breasted is voluble, and seldom an hour 

 passes when it can resist cackling or wing-beating. This habit, and taking into con- 

 sideration the constant noisy scratching among dead leaves, makes the locating of these 

 birds a rather easy matter. And yet they are not as sociable as others of the genus, and 

 six or eight is a very unusual number to find together. Usually a pair is seen alone, 

 although when following some easy route to water several groups will sometimes drift 

 together and not separate until roosting time. 



The food taken varies greatly, not only in different localities, but from week to week 

 on the same slopes. I have shot one of four birds which had spent the day feeding on 

 berries, and which had its crops crammed with these alone, and the following day I 

 secured another member of the flock, disturbing them at a banquet of termites, and 

 finding the bird's crop distended with these long-suffering insects. In connection with 

 this food, R. A. Clark of Cachar says that he once watched an encounter between a 

 Black-breasted Kaleege and a red junglefowl '* for the possession of a white-ant hill 

 from which the winged termites were issuing. I watched the contest for a quarter of an 

 hour, by which time both birds were exhausted, when the kaleege fled, leaving the jungle 

 cock in possession. On another occasion I came across a pair of male kaleege fighting 

 amongst a lot of ferns. They were so taken up with their own affairs that they did not 

 notice my having approached to within fifteen yards. I let them go on for ten minutes, 

 and then went up and caught both. They were quite exhausted. The feathers from the 

 head and neck had all been knocked off, and the latter were bleeding in both birds." 



Several accounts agree in confirming the pugnacious character of these kaleege, and 

 Inglis says of the species in Cachar that when he once winged a female, "she got into 

 the jungle on the slope of a teelah. It was very steep, and I sent a man to catch the 

 bird. No sooner had he caught her than the cock came rushing at him. He made a 

 thrust at it, but couldn't hit it. The bird then retired, but only to renew the attack a 

 second time. It did this three or four times whilst the man was bringing down its mate. 

 In the end I shot it also." 



An interesting case of a cock kaleege caring for his brood of newly-hatched birds is 

 recorded by H. W. A. Watson. He says, *' I saw no signs of the hen, though I watched 

 the cock for several minutes. Probably she was absent looking for food. The cock 

 was very aggressive, and ran around demonstrating, often coming within ten yards of 

 me. The chicks were hiding in the leaves, one within a few inches of my feet." 



I have seen them scratching about the shallows of small, sluggish jungle streams, 

 and in more than one bird have found the remains of small crayfish, usually only the 

 cephalothorax and the abdomen, the birds apparently discarding the less nourishing 

 limbs and other portions. The crayfish in the gizzard were always accompanied by a 

 quantity of small quartz pebbles. In Burma a large fleshy fruit is often eaten, pecked 

 into small pieces before being swallowed, while small black seeds and black ants are 



