NATURALIST IN INDIA. 69 



from the mildness and salubrity of the climate, he can enjoy 

 himself -without danger from the sun, so frequently injurious 

 and even fatal to sportsmen in India. A small tent (rowtee, as 

 it is called), changes of shooting-attire, and necessaries, with 

 as few servants as possible, are all he requires ; luxuries are 

 out of the question. To those who wish to move with 

 rapidity and ease, it is advisable that there be nothing more 

 than is absolutely required. A good pack of dogs is a desi- 

 deratum, and far preferable to beaters both for this and 

 pheas.ant-shooting, as they can be used with more advantage, 

 especially in thick jungles and grassy mountain-sides. The 

 dogs usually procured in the stations of the North-west Pro- 

 vinces of India are called spaniels, but in England I fear 

 would be looked on as curs of " very low degree." However, 

 when better cannot be got, they answer the purpose. Thus 

 equipped, the sportsman who starts with a light heart, and 

 bent on combining instruction with amusement, need seldom 

 know a dull moment. At every step something new or 

 curious attracts his eye. He kills his birds, and when tired 

 sits down with a keen appetite to enjoy the produce of his 

 day's healthy amusement — ^his little tent pitched on some 

 hill-side clothed with verdure and the fair exotics of that 

 region. 



The principal food of the black partridge consists of wheat, 

 badgeree, rice, barley, tender shoots of plants, and insects. 

 During the heat of the day it repairs to bushy places, and in 

 the morning and afternoon makes excursions into the fields, 

 where it may be found associated with the gray partridge 

 (Perdix ponticeriana). 



In choosing a shooting-ground for black partridge, prefer- 

 ence ought to be given to well-cultivated districts, in particu- 

 lar, fields surrounded with low bushy jungle. Except during 



