1^8 THE WHITE-CRESTED KALIJ, 



The great bulk of the birds will be met with in autumn 

 and winter low down, near fields and water, or halting places on 

 frequented roads. But during the summer they are occasionally 

 to be found up to nine or ten thousand feet, They are 

 not birds that, as a rule, afford much sport ; you may see a 

 dozen together feeding in the early morning on one of the 

 " perows" or encamping grounds in the Siwaliks of the Dhun, 

 and you may bag a couple ; but even with good dogs to help 

 you, they run so fast and fly so far that long and weary will 

 be your hunt before you bag a second couple out of that 

 same dozen after you have once fired. In fact, in such places, 

 unless one has been marked into some neighbouring tree, when 

 you will generally get a shot, it is best to go on sharp, as a 

 quarter of a mile further on, on frequented roads like this, 

 you will meet with others along the track, to which the horse 

 dung and droppings of other beasts, containing undigested 

 grain, attracts them. I have in old days shot four or five 

 brace in an hour in the early morning on the road and " perows" 

 when encamped in the Mohan or Lai Darwaza Pass, through 

 which runs the main road to Dehra and Mussooree. 



Generally in the Hills you may pick up three or four birds 

 in a day, by beating all likely looking patches of cover near 

 fields, but it is rare with this species to make a good bag. 

 There are, however, places where you may come across the 

 Kalij almost as thick as Pheasants in a Norfolk cover. Such 

 places there used to be close to Bhim Tal and Naukuchia 

 Tal, small lakes not far from Naini Tal, but at a much lower 

 level, and at the former of these I once, early in November, 

 killed eleven and a half brace in less than three hours. 



In the Hills, as Mr. \Toung writes, " a bed of the small Hill 

 bamboo, called Nergal or Ringal, with a stream running 

 through it, more particularly if in the vicinity of cultivated 

 lands, is an almost certain find for Kolsa." 



Wilson says : " This well-known Kalij is most abundant in 

 the lower regions ; it is common in the Dhun at the foot of 

 the hills, in all the lower valleys, and everywhere to an eleva- 

 tion of about 8,000 feet : from this it becomes more rare, 

 though a few are found still higher. 



" It appears to be more unsuspicious of man than the rest 

 of our Pheasants ; it comes much nearer his habitations, and, 

 from being so often found near the villages and roadsides, is 

 considered by all as the most common, though, in their re- 

 spective regions, the Moonal (Lophophorus iwpeyanus) is more 

 numerous. 



" In the lower regions it is found in every description of 

 forest, from the foot to the summit of the hills ; but it is most 

 partial to low coppice and jungle, and wooded ravines or 

 hollows. In the interior it frequents the scattered jungle at 

 the borders of the dense forests, thickets near old deserted 



