198 THE BLACK-BREASTED KALIJ. 



a shrill cheep, cheep, cheep, and very often settle on the trees. 

 Their flesh is very white when cooked, but greatly inferior to 

 that of the Common Jungle Fowl. A good cock weighs about 

 3lbs. ; the hen is slightly smaller. 



" They retire deeper into the jungle to breed, and the young 

 are hatched early in May. I have never seen their nest." 



Mr. R. A. Clark, of the Mynadhar Tea Garden in Cachar, says : 

 " These birds are very common here, keeping to well-wooded hills 

 and ravines. They go about in pairs, though parties of three and 

 four are often met with, and on one occasion I saw a party of 

 eleven ; they breed in the dense forests, making a nest on the 

 ground. I have never myself seen a nest, but the Kookies have 

 repeatedly brought me clutches of eggs, never more than four 

 in each nest, which I have repeatedly set under domestic fowls ; 

 the chicks were often hatched, but never could be reared. 



" The male birds are used as decoys by the Kookies, who 

 fix nooses in the form of a square enclosing the decoy, (which 

 is tied to a peg by the leg), and watching from a little distance 

 secure any bird that may be noosed. 



" I once witnessed a fight between a male Kalij and a Jungle 

 Cock (G. ferruginous) for the possession of a white-ant hill 

 from which the winged termites were issuing. I watched the 

 contest for a quarter of an hour, by which time both birds were 

 exhausted, when the Kalij fled, leaving the Jungle Cock in 

 possession. On another occasion I came across a pair of 

 male Kalij fighting amongst a lot of ferns ; they were so taken 

 up with their own affairs that they did not notice my having 

 approached to within 15 yards ; I let them go on for ten minutes, 

 and then went up and caught both ; they were quite exhausted ; 

 the feathers from the head and neck had all been knocked off, 

 and the latter was bleeding in both birds. 



"The adult birds are tough, but the pullets are very fair 

 eating." 



Mr. Cripps writes : — 



" The northern part of the District of Sylhet is covered with 

 low ' teelahs' or hillocks, between which run small brooks, the 

 whole being overgrown with dense tree, bamboo, and cane 

 jungle, forming dark, damp retreats, such as are the favourite 

 resorts of this species. 



" Here they scratch about amongst the fallen leaves for 

 insects, and towards evening and in the early morning stray into 

 any adjacent patches of cultivation, or are to be found feeding 

 about the roadsides where these lie within the forests. 



"Although one may now and then shoot a bird or two, their 

 retiring disposition and the nature of the haunts they affect 

 equally prevent their affording much sport in the localities 

 in which alone I have observed them. To the same causes 

 are due my ignorance of their habits. In their wild state one 

 gets only a momentary glimpse of them, and though the eggs 



