236 THE GREY JUNGLE-FOWL. 



" The reason is, that all the well-defined sholas which can be 

 thoroughly beaten are in the higher parts of the hills, where the 

 birds are comparatively rare, while, when you get lower down, 

 where the birds are plentiful, the jungles are so large that they 

 cannot be effectively worked. If you merely want to kill the 

 birds, you might get perhaps ten or a dozen in a short time 

 poking along some of the roads, but they afford no sport thus, 

 only a series of pot shots. 



" I remember once watching an old cock that my dogs had 

 driven up into a tree. For some time I peered round and round 

 (the tree was a large and densely-foliaged one) without being 

 able to discover his whereabouts, he all the while sitting silent 

 and motionless. At last my eyes fell upon him, that instant he 

 hopped silently on to another bough and from that to another, 

 and so on with incredible rapidity, till, reaching the opposite 

 side of the tree, he flew out silently, of course never giving me 

 a chance at a shot. 



" As for food, they seem to eat almost anything ; grain, 

 grass seed, grubs, small fruits and berries, and insects of differ- 

 ent kinds. I have sometimes killed them with nothing but 

 millet in their crops ; at other times quantities of grass seeds, 

 or again, after the grass has been recently burnt, the tender 

 juicy shoots of the new grass." 



I must, however, note that all my correspondents are not so 

 convinced of the peaceful propensities of this species as is 

 Davison. Miss Cockburn says : " The pugnacity of these birds 

 is something incredible. On one occasion, when my brother was 

 out shooting, he heard in the jungle near him the peculiar under- 

 toned notes that the cocks emit when fighting. After a few 

 minutes the sound ceased, and on reaching the spot whence the 

 sounds had proceeded, he found two Jungle-Cocks dead, and one 

 of his dogs by them,. On examining the birds, both their heads 

 proved to bear the marks of the dog's teeth, which could only 

 be accounted for by the supposition that they were so busy 

 fighting that they failed to observe the dog's approach, and 

 were so closely pecking each other's heads that the dog seized 

 both heads at once ; for if she had seized only one, the other 

 bird would have been out of reach before she could have made 

 a second bite. You will admit that they only met with due 

 retribution for indulging in such a reprehensible amusement 

 as cock-fighting." 



A brief note on the habits of this species as observed at Abu^ 

 sent me many years ago by Dr. King, may be added. He says : 

 "The Grey Jungle-Fowl is not uncommon even now (1868) on 

 Abu, but it is evidently far less plentiful than it was some years 

 ago, if the accounts of Shikaris are true. It prefers low valleys 

 at the very base of the hill, but ascends as far as the plateaux 

 of Uriya and Jewai at the feet of the Gurusikhar (about 4,800 

 feet). 



