106 THE MOUNTAIN QUAIL. 



late Colonel Tytler, and one, the second shot by Kenneth Mac- 

 kinnon, cannot be traced. 



Kenneth Mackinnon wrote to me :— " Blyth's account is quite 

 wrong. I shot the bird which Colonel L'Estrange obtained 

 in November 1865. It was shot, together with a second, also a 

 male, out of a covey of eight or ten, and not ' flying overhead,' 

 but in grass jungle on the southern face of Budraj. I recollect 

 that the morning was a particularly fine one, and the weather 

 the reverse of ' unusually cold.' 



" I noticed that nearly half the birds, probably females, were 

 brown, rather darker than the ordinary game brown. They 

 were very difficult to flush, and, but for the dogs, we could not 

 have got them up. After being flushed they collected again 

 at some distance with a shrill whistling, quite unlike that of 

 any of our other birds. Their flight was slow and heavy, and 

 I should never have supposed them capable of migrating far. I 

 attached neither importance nor valu-^ to them, or I might have 

 shot more, but they were very small birds, and involved an 

 immense deal of bother in shooting (and proved, I may add, 

 poor eating), and so, having once ascertained what they were 

 like, I troubled myself no further about them. 



" I saw these birds occasionally after this, and have frequently 

 heard their whistle when out shooting near Mussooree. They are 

 not confined to the spot where I shot that brace. I have seen and 

 heard them in other similar places, at about the same elevation, in 

 the neighbourhood of Mussooree, but to the best of my recollec- 

 tion only during the winter ; but of this latter I am not sure." 



Captain Hutton wrote to me two or three times about these 

 birds. First, sending a pair of old birds on the 1st December : — 



" There were about a dozen of them feeding amongst the 

 high jungle grass near my house, and one of the boys knocked 

 over three, one of which was destroyed." 



Again, on the 20th December, sending a young bird : — "There 

 were only five or six birds in this covey, and all young appa- 

 rently. This one was shot with a pistol, as we find the gun of 

 little use, the birds refusing to take wing, and only running 

 among the long high grass when pressed, and allowing them- 

 selves to be nearly trodden upon before they will move. This 

 was shot on the 18th December at Jerepani, elevation 5,500 

 feet. During the forenoon they wander up to feed amongst 

 the long grass, to which they obstinately cling, feeding on the 

 fallen seeds, and their presence being made known by their 

 short Quail-like note. They will not come out into the open 

 ground, and in the afternoon they descend into sheltered 

 hollows amongst the grass and brush-wood." 



Lastly, in August 1870, sending another specimen : — 



" This is a male, not quite mature, shot at Jerepani in June, 

 after which they disappeared. 



