70 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 



frequent ; if approached from above, they fly off at once, if from 

 below they walk away in the opposite direction, calling the 

 whole time, and often cluster together on the top of some large 

 stone in their way. Their flight exactly resembles that of the 

 Pheasant, and the whistle when on the wing being nearly the 

 same, and the birds having the same white on the wings, they 

 could hardly be distinguished when flying past at a distance, but 

 from the size. They seldom fly far, and if followed and put up 

 again, often fly back to the spot where first found. At times they 

 seem unwilling to get up at all, and several shots may be fired at 

 them before they take wing. I once found a flock on a steep 

 ledge of rock in the forest, a few days -after a severe snow storm 

 which had driven them down to their winter quarters ; they were 

 a little scattered and resting on the projecting ledges, and I fired 

 eleven shots within twenty yards, without one bird attempting to 

 get up. At one bird I fired twice without its moving at all. 



"The Snow-partridge feeds on moss and the tender shoots 

 of small plants. It is always fat, and the flesh is tender and well 

 flavoured, and if kept a few days, something like Grouse. They 

 breed near the limits of vegetation, but I have not seen the nest 

 or eggs. I have often met with the young chicks, sometimes a 

 single pair of old birds with their young brood, and sometimes 

 several old birds and two or three broods of chicks, apparently 

 six or seven in a brood. When alarmed, the parent birds exhibit all 

 that distressful anxiety so common with their tribe, and endeavour 

 by drawing the attention of the intruder to themselves to decoy 

 him from the spot. They do not counterfeit lameness like some, 

 but walk away before him, and call out in a most plaintive manner. 

 The young squat close on the ground, or creep beneath the stones, 

 for the herbage where they breed is never sufficiently high enough 

 to hide even the smallest bird." 



Partridges. 



We now come to the true Partridges, which, however, form 

 several distinct groups, separated alike by habits, form, and colo- 

 ration. In India there are representatives of the " Francolins" 

 and the ' Red-legged Partridges' of Europe, and a true Partridge 



