60 THE PAINTED SAND-GROUSE. 



Although large numbers may be found in the same enceinte, 

 they never associate in the huge flocks in which the other 

 species of Sand-Grouse occur. Ten is the largest pack that I 

 have ever flushed at one time, and except from September to 

 February, they are as a rule only met with in pairs. 



Of their habits little can be said, for, except when coming 

 down in the mornings to drink, one rarely sees them before they 

 rise. They are seldom found at any great distance from the 

 base of their hilly homes, unless during the hot weather, when 

 want of water compels them at times to straggle away for some 

 miles. Except on cloudy days, they usually work some way 

 up the hills, after 10 o'clock, and bask at the base of some 

 thorny shrub or Euphorbia bush, but in dull, cold weather they 

 seem to remain the whole day below. In the mornings they 

 may always be found in the scrub and amongst the grass and 

 rocks at the bases of the hills, and even in small patches of 

 cultivation, here and there dotted about these, where they 

 feed on grain, seeds and the like ; not at all, so far as I have 

 observed, on insects. On the 4th of January 1868 I shot 13 brace 

 near Bhoondsee in the Gurgaon district, the crops of every 

 one of which, I noted, contained exclusively Moth, a common 

 Indian pulse. 



Where they are abundant they afford extremely pretty 

 shooting, and 20 to 25 brace is by no means an out-of-the-way 

 bag for two good guns. Even though at first flushed in parties of 

 7 to 10, they break up into pairs and singles after the first shot, 

 and lie well. I have never seen them wild or rise at greater 

 distances than 30 or at most 40 yards, and very often they 

 whirr up within a few feet. They rise with a chuckling chirp, 

 fly low, and soon alight again, often however running a con- 

 siderable distance after they have alighted. They run extreme- 

 ly well, compared with other Sand-Grouse, as I have repeatedly 

 noticed when standing above whilst others were shooting 

 below. For a moment, I have often mistaken them for Grey 

 Partridges. 



Although their flight is strong and tolerably fast, they offer 

 an easy shot, and can be dropped with charges and at distances 

 that would afford little prospects of a kill in the case of 

 exustus. 



Their plumage is very delicate, and half the feathers of the 

 back and breast are often knocked out by the fall when they 

 are shot. The aural orifices are very large, and being only 

 partially covered with feathers of which the webs are very far 

 apart, are conspicuous ; but the birds do not appear to hear 

 particularly well, or if they do, they are very tame or stupid, for 

 they continually rise at one's feet, and if much disturbed lie so 

 close that they are almost as hard to raise as Button Quail. 



Their crepuscular habits are undoubted, though I cannot say 

 that I myself have often noticed them after dusk. 



