250 THE RED SPUR-FOWL. 



them like rabbits, and I have killed many more by firing into 

 bushes behind which they were disappearing than on the wing. 

 When you have the luck to flush them, they offer an easy shot 

 and are brought down with light shot and at long distances, 

 but if not stone dead, they can never hardly be found without 

 dogs, as they not only run like greyhounds, but if badly hit 

 will creep into any hole about the roots of trees or even in 

 the ground. 



Jerdon says that their call is a sort of crowing cry ; I have 

 never heard any attempt at crowing on their part ; they are 

 rather silent birds, but when a covey has been broken up, you 

 may hear them after a time calling to each other with a sort 

 of cackling cry, like that of domestic fowls when disturbed, or 

 of an old hen after she has laid an egg. I have been unable 

 to distinguish the sexes by their voices. 



I have only seen this species in Central and Western India. 

 Davison, who has been familiar with them in the Nilgiris, 

 says : — 



" The Red Spur-Fowl is found sparingly about the higher por- 

 tions of the Nilgiris, but is more common on the lower slopes, 

 and in the Wynaad. It is not perhaps quite so easily banished 

 by increasing population as is the Grey Jungle-Fowl, a good num- 

 ber even yet surviving in the immediate vicinity of the station 

 of Ootacamund, where, however, doubtless they are hard enough 

 to circumvent. 



" It seems to affect by preference dense and thorny cover in 

 the vicinity of cultivation, but is also found in small isolated 

 patches of jungle or sholas, and along the outskirts of the 

 larger forests. It is perhaps found more numerously on the 

 lower portions of the northern and western slopes of the Nil- 

 giris. 



" Though, as Dr. Jerdon remarks, two or three Spur-Fowl usu- 

 ally form part of a day's bag on the Nilgiris, they are by no 

 means easy birds to obtain ; for without dogs it is almost impos- 

 sible to flush them, and I have often observed that, even with 

 dogs, they will run before these, till they come to some dense 

 thorny bush, when they will silently fly up out of reach and 

 hide themselves in the thickest part, and once so concealed, it 

 is almost impossible to flush them without cutting the bush to 

 pieces. When flushed they rise with a cackle, and fly well and 

 strong for a couple of hundred yards. Their flight is very like 

 that of the Kyah Partridge. They are usually found in small 

 coveys of four or five birds, and when flushed do not rise to- 

 gether, but at irregular intervals, dispersing in different direc- 

 tions ; they are often found in pairs, and not unfrequently I have 

 come across single birds. 



" They come into the open in the mornings and evenings to 

 feed, and wander about a good deal. Even after they have re- 

 tired into the shade they do not rest quietly, but wander about 



