THE LARGE OR BLACK-BELLIED SAND-GROUSE. 49 



before me, and last year in Jodhpore I came upon fully two 

 thousand, grouped together in a clump little, if at all, more than 

 thirty yards long by ten wide ; and, though I did not get within 

 80 yards of them, I yet dropped three by two barrels into the mass 

 as it rose. 



I have but seldom met with them on stubbles (though 

 they affect these a good deal, I hear, in some parts of the 

 country), or in any ground under crop, nor have I ever 

 found them on or about the more or less scrub-clad bases 

 of the low hills so common in Rajputana. Wide, open sandy 

 plains are their favourite resorts ; and, though they do sometimes 

 feed on bare ploughed lands, it is rare to find them on these 

 except when basking in the early morning or when taking 

 their mid-day siesta. This, like all the Sand-Grouse, they always 

 take when the sun is hot, though on cold, cloudy, gloomy days, 

 they are moving the whole day. They bustle about in the sand 

 or loose loam like old hens, until they have worked out a de- 

 pression that fits them, and then in this they sit a little on 

 one side, first with one wing a little under them and the 

 uppermost one a little opened, and then, after a time, they 

 shift over to the other side, so as to give the other wing 

 its turn of grilling. During their siesta they are never closely 

 packed ; they are scattered about irregularly, one here, two or 

 three there, and so on ; and though at this time you may gener- 

 ally by circling get within reach of them, they are by no means 

 all asleep, and the instant you halt or raise a gun, or fix your eyes 

 on any of them, the alarm note is sounded, and they are off 

 with a strong rapid flight, which most of us, at one time or 

 another, have found too much for the second barrel. 



In parts of the country where they have not been shot at, 

 especially when they first arrive, you may easily approach within 

 thirty yards, shoot two or three on the ground, and perhaps a 

 couple more as they rise, but after having been worried a good 

 deal they become the wildest birds imaginable, and then the 

 only plan is to get them driven over you, which, with good 

 native fowlers, is almost a certainty, and affords at the same 

 time most difficult shooting and capital sport. It takes a 

 straight eye, No 3 shot, and a hard-hitting gun, to bring 

 down a clean-killed right and left out of a party going over you, 

 30 to 35 yards high, at the pace these birds can go. 



It is not uncommon, particularly in the early part of the cold 

 season, to meet with party after party consisting of birds of one 

 sex only, but this separation of the sexes is by no means invaria- 

 ble even in November and December, and is much less 

 frequently seen as the season advances. 



If you watch a flock feeding, you will see that they observe 

 no order, but straggle about in all directions ; some individuals 

 continually fluttering up and alighting a yard or so away, and 

 every now and then a dozen springing up together, taking a 



