THE LESSER FLORICAN OR LIKH. 37 



intended to attract the females, who, before their eggs are laid, 

 wander greatly, or perhaps to summon a rival cock ; for I have 

 seen two in such desperate fight as to allow me to approach 

 within thirty yards before they ceased their battle." 



I note that at all times, when alarmed, they seem to utter 

 this croak, which somewhat reminds one of that of the corn 

 crake, but not in so deep a tone as when nautching. Some 

 sportsmen have fancied that the upward spring of male birds 

 (and though I have seen females jump, the spring has not thesame 

 character as when the males do it) is made in pursuit of flies, 

 but (as was remarked by Mr. Davidson, C.S.) I have no doubt 

 that it is part of the regular nuptial performance. 



He says : — " The Florican breeds all round Sholapur, in con- 

 siderable numbers, wherever there are grass preserves with long 

 grass. During the breeding season they seem chiefly to haunt the 

 thinnest patches of long grass, rather than those full of small 

 bushes ; they are at this period exceedingly difficult to flush, 

 particularly the hens, which, even if you succeed in forcing them 

 to rise, get up only at your very feet and make but very short 

 flights. The cocks are not quite so difficult to flush, but you are 

 obliged to run towards them, to get even them up : if you 

 simply walk after them, they will rarely rise. Their whereabouts 

 are, however, generally easily discovered by their frog-like call, 

 and their occasional sudden jumps up into the air. They do 

 not seem to call much when the sun is bright, but chiefly in the 

 morning and during cloudy days. I have often watched them 

 flying or jumping up, but I am still uncertain why they do it. 

 My original impression was, that they sprung up to seize 

 insects from the grass stalks, but I have long abandoned this 

 idea, as they rise much above the grass. Moreover, I have only 

 seen one bird thus rise that could have been a female, and this 

 was dark-coloured, and probably a male that had not assumed 

 breeding plumage, and I am inclined to consider these sudden 

 flights as simply one of those bridal displays so common in the 

 males, especially of gallinaceous birds, such as the flapping of the 

 wings in Pheasants, the nautch of the Peacock, the lek of the 

 Capercailzie, and the pouch-inflated strut of the big Bustard, 

 and if it can be certainly established that this habit is confined 

 to the males,* no alternative solution seems open to us." 



The Lesser Florican, according to my experience, feeds 

 largely on vegetable substances, berries, green shoots of grain, 

 grasses, and all kinds of herbs, but it also eats insects in abund- 

 ance, especially grasshoppers and the glittering cantharides, 

 and, Jerdon says,*f* beetles, centipedes and even small lizards. 



* And let me add, the males in the breeding season, which I believe to be the fact. 



+ Hodgson notes : " Stomachs full of grylli, thin coated small beetles, fireflies, 

 and gorgeous gadflies. Comes" (into the Nepal Valley) " when the wheat 

 ripens in April and May ; leaves in the heavy rain in July, when the valley is flooded 

 It resides in the ripe corn and green, dry or hill" (t. e., non -irrigated) " rice. It 

 eats chiefly grylli and a few aromatic weed tops and sesamum buds." 



