750 ORTYGOBNIS PONDICERIANA. 



portions of the Camatic it is, of course, common, and extends up to the bases of the mountain-ranges, if 

 we may judge by Dr. Fairbank finding it at Peria Kulam at an elevation of 900 feet. 



Habits. — In Ceylon this Partridge confines itself to the sea-coast, and there almost entirely affects open 

 ground studded with low bushes and clumps of stunted jungle. Its habit is to frequent the vicinity of cover, 

 and when alarmed to either run or fly into the nearest bushes and underwood, often perching on a branch at 

 no little height from the ground. It is extremely noisy, commencing its loud call at daybreak and invariably 

 renewing it, after its midday interim, about 4 o'clock. While cruising off or sailing down the north-west 

 coast, the traveller may hear its far-sounding notes along the whole shore-line, continued until dusk. These 

 resemble the syllables ke-augh-ke-augh repeated several times, and are varied by a more lively call like ka-tee 

 klar-ka, ka-tee klar-ka, which may be heard at a long distance off. Mr. Simpson tells me that the male and 

 female unite their notes and cry in consort. In the Jaffna district numbers of these Partridges are caught 

 by the natives with hair nooses and kept for sale ; many likewise find their way in native vessels to Colombo 

 from Tuticoriu, as many as half a dozen being confined in a small circular basket without any apparent 

 inconvenience to themselves. Small covies associate together, but do not seem to keep close company, as 

 when they take flight they are usually flushed singly and the birds get up at some little distance from one 

 another. They prefer, however, to seek safety by using their legs, and are very swift runners ; when they 

 take to cover, they are sometimes difficult to flush, moving away entirely without the sportsman's knowledge, 

 especially if he be unaccompanied by a dog. Jerdon testifies to the difficulty of flushing them, and says that 

 they run with amazing speed, taking refuge iu thick bushes and hedges. He writes as follows : — " When 

 flushed it rises with a loud whirr, flies very strongly, but does not take long flights. It frequently perches on 

 low trees and shrubs and on the branches of thick Euphorbia-hedges. Its call is a peculiar loud shrieking, 

 and has not unaptly been compared to the words patula-patula-patula, quickly repeated, but preceded by a 

 single note uttered two or three times, each time with a higher intonation, till it gets, as it were, the key- 

 note of its call." 



A writer in the ' Bengal Sporting Review ' says that the young, which soon get strong on the wing, 

 " attempt to call when only five days old." 



I have found its food to consist of ants and grass-seeds ; and Jerdon says that it is very partial to small 

 grasshoppers. 



Concerning its nature this writer remarks as follows : — " It is easily tamed, and may be brought to follow 

 its owner about like a dog, even through a crowded street. It is very commonly kept by Mussulmans in small 

 cages, sometimes for fighting, as it is highly pugnacious and fights with great spirit and obstinacy. Partridges 

 with double spurs are esteemed the most for fighting. It will readily utter its call when spoken to, and is 

 generally liberated on a grass plain for a run every morning, returning to its cage when called upon. It 

 is also used as a decoy for wild birds, a tame bird being put down near an aviary and made to call, when he 

 is invariably met by a cock -bird and a battle ensues. The bird-catcher approaches and seizes the wild bird as 

 it is heedlessly engaged in the fight." 



Several authors testify to its partial aboreal habits. Mr. Holdsworth noticed that it roosted in low 

 bushes at Aripu ; and Mr. Ball has known it to perch on trees at 20 feet above the ground and call from that 

 elevated position. 



Nidijication. — Layard observes that this Partridge breeds twice a year, in August and December, laying 

 from eight to sixteen eggs, measuring 15 lines (l - 26 inch) by 12 lines (l - 0) ; they are laid, he says, in a hollow 

 at the bottom of a bush or tuft of grass, with little or no nest. The breeding-season, however, is continued 

 later than December, for I have met with a young brood in the middle of March. Two eggs received by me 

 from the Puttalam district were pale buff or very light stone-yellow, one having a few very faded lilac-coloured 

 blotches at the small end. They are pyriform in shape, and measure l - 4 and T38 inch in length by T 03 

 and 104 inch in breadth respectively. 



In India it lays from February to June and from September to November, in all of which months 

 Mr. Hume remarks that he has taken its eggs. " The nest is usually placed," writes this gentleman, " on the 

 ground, under some large clod in a ploughed field, under a bush, or in a tuft of grass, but is sometimes fixed 



