256 THE PAINTED SPUR-FOWL. 



quarters of the species ; in many of them the Red Spur- Fowl 

 does not occur at all, and in most of the others in which it does 

 occur, it is only sparsely or as a straggler, while the present 

 species is there in force, and as it were at home. 



But though these seem to be the districts where it is most 

 numerous, like the Red Spur- Fowl it spreads far wide of these its 

 presumed normal limits. 



It has occurred west of Nagpur near Elichpur, and then in 

 numerous places in the Peninsula, in the Nulla-mullay range, 

 in Kurnool, in Bellary, Cuddapah, the Eastern Ghats inland from 

 Nellore, about Tupapore and southwards to near Pondicherry ; 

 and again nearly all round the Nilgiris, viz., between Meta- 

 polliem and Barliar, between the latter and Coonoor, near Kullar, 

 in the Orange Valley below Kotagiri, and on the Segore Ghat, 

 and also in the Walliar jungles in the Palghat district. Alto- 

 gether, as I said when speaking of the Red Spur-Fowl, the 

 areas of distribution of these two species are so marvellously 

 interlaced that I cannot at present pretend to disentangle them. 



Neither species are birds of the alluvial plains, and though a 

 few may stray into these, their natural homes are jungle-clad 

 hills and, in the case of the present species, especially rocky 

 hills and their immediate neighbourhoods. 



Like the last species, this Spur-Fowl also is purely Indian. 



As I have only once myself shot or seen this species alive, 

 I must content myself with reproducing what others have re- 

 corded about it. 



Dr. Jerdon, our great stand-by in all such cases, says : — 



" This handsome Spur- Fowl is especially partial to rocky 

 jungles and tangled coverts, and is a very difficult bird to flush, 

 taking short and rapid flights, and diving down into some 

 impenetrable thicket. I have often seen it running rapidly 

 across rocks when the jungles were being beaten for large 

 game. 



" From the difficulty of procuring this bird, it is not well 

 known to sportsmen in general, even in districts where it is not 

 rare, and its qualities for the table are inferior to those of the 

 last species, having less flavour and being more dry. Numbers 

 are snared in the hills not far from Madras, and they are gene- 

 rally procurable in the Madras market. I have kept them in 

 confinement for long. They thrive pretty well, but the males 

 are very pugnacious. The males have a fine cackling sort of 

 call, very fowl-like." 



From Raipur, Mr. F. R. Blewitt writes : " The Painted Spur- 

 Fowl is to be met with in numbers in certain localities in the 

 hill ranges in the Bhandara and Raipur Districts. Eastward 

 it has been found in the low hills dividing the Pithora Native 

 State from the Sambalpur District. 



