46 THE SEESEE. 



walk, and if people are set to catch them, large numbers are 

 brought in. They are most generally seen running on the 

 bare rocks or pecking about the droppings of cattle on the 

 mountain paths ; but at Tobar, — some 2,000 feet high, the 

 rainy-season residence of the miners, who, during the rest of 

 the year, reside in the Khewra Gorge (some 700 feet above 

 the sea) and work the neighbouring Mayo Salt Mines,— I 

 saw several pairs running about on the flat roofs of the empty 

 houses. The males may often be seen perched on some rocky 

 point, and the female, in the spring, though less commonly 

 seen in exposed positions, will always be found close to her 

 mate. They run very rapidly and glidingly over the rockiest 

 ground, rise pretty readily, and fly smartly, always if possible 

 down-hill. Both in gait and flight they remind one much 

 of the Chukor. 



They are eminently birds of bare broken ground ; on grassy 

 slopes they may indeed be found, for they feed much on grass 

 seeds, but they eschew utterly forests or thickly wooded tracts, 

 and even where there is much scrub about, they are less com- 

 mon — the barer and more desolate the ravines and gorges, the 

 more thoroughly do they seem at home. 



They are active, bustling little birds, scratching about a great 

 deal in the earth, dusting themselves freely in the sand, bask- 

 ing in the sun, resting in little hollows they have worked out 

 for themselves, and generally reproducing in many ways the 

 manners of the domestic fowl. 



Their call, continually heard in the spring, is a clear double 

 note, " Soo-see, Soo-see," and they have also, whilst feeding 

 and when surprised, a whistled chirp, uttered very softly 

 when at their ease, but sounding more harshly when they are 

 alarmed. 



Their food is, I think, chiefly, if not exclusively, grain, seeds, 

 and herbage of different kinds. I have examined many, but 

 have lost my notes in regard to them, and I cannot now re- 

 member whether they are or are not also insectivorous. My 

 impression is that they are not. 



Although they are pretty shooting, they never afford much 

 sport ; they run a great deal, and over ground across which 

 it is difficult to follow them ; it is often difficult to flush 

 them, and when flushed they constantly rise so little, and 

 dart so directly down hill, that they are lost sight of 

 before it is possible to fire. Knocking about, not trying to make 

 a bag, a good many shots will be obtained, and I have thus killed 

 seven or eight brace in a day ; but if you set out to have " a day 

 after Seesee," it is astonishing how the little wretches elude you ; 

 and common as they are in some places (they seem positively 

 to swarm when you are after Oorial (Ovis vignii) and dare not 

 fire), eleven and a half brace is the largest bag I ever succeeded 

 in making. 



