114 THE JUNGLE BUSH-QUAIL. 



habits almost the exact counterpart. Blowing upon it excites 

 the same fury as in the Grey Partridge. It would be curious to 

 know whether this singular trait is found amongst other game 

 birds. The Bush-Quails fight with even greater rancour, and 

 certainly with greater clamour, than the Greys, and it is not 

 infrequent to noose every one in the jungle before the trapper 

 has finished his operations in one spot. This mode of catching 

 the ' Lawa' is one of the commonest amusements of the 

 zemindars, or native chiefs, of Singhbhoom, and I have witness- 

 ed it myself on several occasions at Kharsanwa, Saraikela, and 

 other towns of that country. Bush-Quails are not often caught 

 by hawking, as the Uriyas do not care to trust their trained 

 sparrow-hawks (shickras and besras) so much amongst the 

 jungle. For the table they are hard and tasteless, and they are 

 valued by the natives chiefly for their fighting qualities, which 

 do not appear to degenerate even after long confinement." 



Capt. Butler states that " the Jungle Bush-Quail supplies 

 the place of the next species on the hills and in thick jungles. 

 It is very common at Mount Abu, but never occurs out of the 

 jungles, id est, it does not affect bare open ground like the Rock 

 Bush-Quail. It is exclusively, I believe, a hill resident. I have 

 never met with it anywhere excepting in hilly jungles ; and, so 

 far as my experience goes, where this species occurs the next 

 does not. I never had any difficulty in distinguishing it from 

 P. asmtica, owing to its colouring being so much brighter, 

 especially about the head. It breeds at Abu after the rains, 

 but I have never succeeded in finding a nest." 



Here, again, it is not strictly correct that this species is only 

 found in hilly ground, or that where the one species occurs there 

 the other does not. In Etawah, for instance, in places where 

 the deep scrub-clad ravines of the Jumna abut on the dry 

 level, oosur plains or scanty cultivation of the drier, higher 

 portions of the Doab, I have shot both species in the same field. 

 Still Capt. Butler's remarks are approximately true as a rough 

 generalization. 



From Lucknow (where I have not yet ascertained the occur- 

 rence of the Rock Bush-Quail,) Mr. Reid writes : — 



" The Jungle Bush-Quail is not common in the Lucknow 

 division, but is very generally distributed, a few being almost 

 always flushed when beating about hedges and patches of grass 

 in unfrequented groves and gardens, and sometimes in bush and 

 grass jungle in undulating and raviny ground. It appears to be 

 a permanent resident." 



Mr. G. Vidal says : — " The Jungle Bush-Quail is common in 

 the Ratnagiri district, both near the coast and inland. It fre- 

 quents the low scrub jungle on rocky hill sides. The 

 natives catch them by night with the aid of torches — all 

 huddled together in a compact mass, and dazzled by the glare 

 of the torches, whenever found, they fall an easy prey. They 



