THE CROW-PHEASANT 227 
parent, for besides the innocent “griff” who shoots the 
bird in mistake for a pheasant, the lower caste Hindu 
folk of all parts of India, and most Mohammedans, look 
upon the flesh of the bird as a great delicacy. Hence 
the coucal is frequently trapped. 
Yet the bird in Northern India is comparatively 
tame. In Madras, too, it is trapped; there are usually 
two or three wretched-looking crow-pheasants to be 
seen in the Moore Market. These are kept in cages 
so small that their tails are crushed up against the 
wires, and the poor birds look the picture of misery, 
and are doubtless as unhappy as they look. 
Even worse is the plight of the king-crows which are 
caught and kept in cages. These birds are, presumably, 
not eaten, and I do not think they are kept as pets, for 
so lively a bird as a king-crow could not live long in a 
cage. They are, presumably, caught and ill-treated 
merely to induce kind-hearted folk to pay for their 
liberation. 
This is commonly done with crows. These birds 
are trapped and then taken to a Brahmin by some 
disreputable character, who threatens to destroy them, 
then and there, unless the Brahmin pays for the bird’s 
liberation, It is surely time that these practices should 
be made punishable by law. 
