THE PAINTED BUSH-QUAIL. 12$ 



head from the body ; they can also be easily taken by a fall net, 

 or in any other way in which ground birds are captured/' 

 Miss Margaret Cockburn says : — 



" Painted Bush-Quails are very numerous about K6tagiri, 

 where I live, and other places in the Nilgiris, and are always 

 met with in flocks. They run with such rapidity, that they look 

 like little brown balls rolled along the ground. These Quails feed 

 on small grain and insects. They do not migrate from the hills. 

 "Like all the genus, they are pugnacious, and both males 

 and females (?) have desperate battles, which often end in the 

 death of one or more. 



" The natives often rear these Quails as decoy birds. They 

 make small square bamboo cages. In the centre is a small 

 square compartment, in which the decoy bird (male or female) 

 is confined. Little bars run from each corner of this inner 

 compartment to the inner corner of the cage, thus dividing 

 the space which runs all round the former into four verandahs, 

 if I may use the word. The outer sides of these, in fact of 

 the cage itself, let down, and are so arranged that, by the 

 pressure of the bird's feet on the bars, which form the floor of 

 the verandah, they start up again, and enclose whatever is in 

 that particular verandah. Spring cages of this nature are in 

 use, I believe, in many parts of India, though the arrangements 

 for springing the sides vary a good deal. 



" The cage, the spring sides duly set, is placed on the ground 

 in some locality where the wild birds are common. The owner 

 hides himself behind a bush, and begins to imitate the bird's 

 note by whistling like them. Instantly his own bird begins to 

 call, and the wild ones all around answer it. In a few minutes 

 these surround the cage, and rush into the verandahs to get 

 at the decoy bird ; the spring sides fly up and close with a 

 click, and the would-be combatants are captured. Hearing the 

 sound, the Quail-catcher runs out, transfers the captured bird 

 to his netted bag, re-sets the spring sides, and repeats the 

 process. 



" Sometimes, in addition to the spring cage, a small bamboo 

 frame-work of varying length, and three or four inches in 

 height, is placed upon the ground in a zig-zag shape, partly or 

 entirely surrounding the cage, and distant from it two or three 

 feet. This little fence is pierced by numerous apertures (just 

 large enough to allow the bird to pass), to each of which is 

 attached a horse-hair noose. As this Quail prefers creeping 

 through any hole to flying over any obstacle, however low, 

 many which escape the spring cage are caught in the nooses. 



" When the natives come across a very young brood, they 

 catch two or three of them, and put them into a hole about a 

 foot deep, which they dig in the ground. The parent birds, 

 finding that the young ones cannot come out to them, very soon 

 drop into the hole, when the native, who has been watching from 



