NATURALIST IN INDIA. 119 



lagging native, or broken-down camel, to mark the scene so 

 fuU. of busy excitement half-an-hour before. 



We left Dugsbai in the beginning of November, and 

 after a few days spent at Kalka preparing for the march, 

 started for Eawul Pindee, in the northern Punjaub, by way of 

 Loodiana and Lahore. At Kalka I had a morning with the 

 Eajah of Puteala's falconer, and several gos and chippuck 

 falcons (Falco badius) were flown at black and gray partridges. 

 The Sport was not exciting, I believe chiefly on account of 

 the birds having been badly trained. As soon as a partridge 

 rose, the hawk was slipped ; and if he caught the bird, it 

 was generally just as the latter was about to drop into the 

 cover. 



The European short-eared owl is not uncommon in the 

 jungle ; one shot at Kalka had a palm squirrel in its craw. 

 The painted or lesser sand-grouse (Pterocles fasdatui) differs 

 in its habits from the other species met with in India, by pre- 

 ferring jungles to the open country. Its flight resembles the 

 night-jar's, and its haunts are similar. It is easily known 

 from the others by the white and black band on the fore- 

 head, which is wanting in the female ; the latter is larger, 

 and, instead of the broad band on the breast, the lower parts 

 are marked with transverse lines. This species is not gregari- 

 ous. The large " black breast " (P. arenarius) is at once distin- 

 guished by its size and even tail from the "pin-tailed grouse" 

 (P. exustus), which is by far the most common ; both are met 

 with in flocks in flelds and waste places. Their flight is 

 strong ; and although their flesh is tough and unsavoury, they 

 are much sought after by European sportsmen. I have been 

 informed that another species is sometimes seen on the north- 

 west frontier of the Punjaub, possilfly the large pin-tail (P. 

 alchata), which is said to be plentiful in Afghanistan and 



