192 THE BLACK-BACKED KALIJ. 



"It appears to dislike sunshine, and scarcely leaves the 

 shade of trees or shrubs while the sun is up. 



" It seldom, if ever, perches in the day time, but keeps to 

 the ground, unless suddenly disturbed by dogs or wild animals, 

 when it may take refuge in a tree as a last resource. If alarm- 

 ed by men it always runs along under the scrub if the 

 circumstances are favourable for that mode of escape ; but if 

 not, it flies within twenty feet of the ground for forty or fifty 

 yards and then again alights on the ground. By making a short 

 detour they will be found close to where they alighted. 



" Usually it is a silent bird, but when suddenly alarmed it 

 utters a sharply repeated " koorcki, koorchi, koorchi" as it rises 

 on the wing. When, however, the males are in the fighting 

 humour — which they usually are about breeding time — their 

 call, as they advance towards each other, is " koov koor ; waak 

 waak;" the former being the threatening, and the latter the 

 attacking note. They also at times answer each other's calls 

 in the jungles. 



" In fine weather the male often makes a sharp drumming 

 noise by beating his wings against his sides, somewhat after 

 the style of the wing flapping of a domestic cock preparatory 

 to crowing from some elevated place ; but instead of the cock's 

 few leisurely flaps the Kalij strikes oftener and smarter, pro- 

 ducing a sound more like drumming than flapping. From the 

 same spot he repeats this drumming noise twice or thrice at 

 short intervals, but gives no voice along with it. It seems as 

 though he was in such joyful mood that he must give expres- 

 sion to his delight somehow, but inherited experience had effec- 

 tually taught him that any attempt at crowing in the jungles 

 was likely to attract the attention of wild beasts, and that he 

 must stick to his drumming and leave the crowing part to 

 the domestic cock who can safely indulge in that amusement. 



" The natives look on the drumming of the Kalij as a sure 

 sign of approaching rain. It is heard at all seasons of the 

 year, but most frequently before the setting in of the rainy 

 season ; at other times generally just before a fall of rain. 



" The food of the Kalij is varied in the extreme. It eats 

 almost everything in the shape of seeds, fruit, and insects, but 

 is particularly fond of the larvae of beetles out of cowdung and 

 decayed wood, and of several of the jungle yams which bear 

 tubers along their vines at the axils of the leaves. When the 

 vine-borne tubers are exhausted, it will scratch away the soil to 

 get at those underground. 



' ' Natives who have kept them alive say they thrive excel- 

 lently on yams and grubs only, but that no insect comes amiss 

 to them except ants. It is also very partial to all kinds of grain 

 from the fields adjoining its cover, seeds of the Erythrina and 

 cucurbitous plants, the young tops of several nettles and 

 ferns, and the fruit of numerous plants, especially of the Totney 



