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estate alone, their have been killed, in honourable sport, no fewer 

 than sixty cock-pheasants during the present season. Who can 

 doubt, indeed, the fitness of this colony to entertain within its bounds, 

 and to naturalize on Australian ground, almost all the members of 

 the great gallinaceous family 1 Nor is their any class of animals so 

 easily acclimatised. We have only to remember what was the 

 original country of our domestic cocks and hens, of our turkeys 

 and pheasants, to be convinced that nearly all the birds of this 

 family are capable of thriving even in a climate opposed to their 

 natural one. With this, by way of preface, I will now proceed 

 to make mention of such of the game-birds of India as I 

 believe are most valuable to this country, either as objects of sport, 

 for their qualities as food, or as interesting and beautiful ornaments 

 of the silent and dreary Australian bush. I will begin with a bird 

 which the verdict of all Indian sportsmen and epicures invariably 

 places at the head of the game-birds of India : I means the fioriken, 

 which is a kind of small and more elegant bustard, inhabiting the 

 plains of India at the base of the Himalayas, with a tolerably wide 

 destribution over the dry, sandy districts of the interior and the 

 north-west. The fioriken is a bird of shy habits, and would, 

 perhaps, be difficult to cage, unless previously domesticated. But 

 he is worth all the attention which the Acclimatisation Society can 

 bestow upon him, and once introduced here, would certainly thrive 

 in the same region with our native bustard or wild turkey. Of 

 partridges, there are some half dozen different varieties in India, all 

 of which are more or less desirable for this country. Each of the 

 three great Indian regions has its special kinds ; but for us, of 

 course, the most valuable would be those which inhabit the dry 

 plains of the interior, or the upland valleys of moderate elevation. 

 Of these, the black partridge (of which there are two solitary males 

 already in the Acclimatisation Society's collection) is perhaps the 

 best bird for our purposes, being excellent for the table, hardy, and 

 affording capital sport. The chukore, or red-leg partridge, whose 

 habitat is a colder region than that of the black partridge, extending 

 northward even to Cashmere, and the lower ranges of the Hima- 

 layas, is equally good for the table, but is, perhaps, less prized by 

 the sportsman. The grey partridge of Bengal is comparatively 

 worthless, and should be left alone. Of the other partridges 

 proper, there are the two rarer varieties, which are only found at 

 considerable elevations — the curria, which is of a rich chesnut 

 brown colour ; and the leruu, or Nepal grouse, which is a splendid 

 game-bird, and of delicious flavour. The two latter are inhabitants 

 of a cold mountainous region, but would probably thrive in our 

 Gipps Land ranges. There is also an Indian wood-partridge, which 

 roosts on trees, and the Thibet partridge {perdix Hodgsonii), which 

 would be the most difficult of all to procure. Among the birds not 

 strictly belonging to the natural genus perdix, but which are vul- 

 garly classed as partridges, I may mention the painted spur-fowl of 



