58 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
delicate above that of every other game bird, though 
many of the natives who have passed a tolerably 
long life in the vicinity of its haunts have never en- 
joyed the luxury of tasting it. There are several 
birds of the pheasant species in these lofty districts, 
but none so beautiful in plumage or so much esteemed 
for the table. 
Another bird is found here, less difficult of approach, 
but, perhaps partly for this reason, much less highly 
esteemed. The cock-bird is as large as a common 
dunghill-fowl, with a clear brown plumage and a 
small delicate head something resembling that of the 
rock-pigeon. It is by no means scarce, but in every 
respect inferior to the pheasant. 
The hill-partridge abounds in the mountain-forests, 
and I know of no game so exquisite in flavour. It is 
moreover a very graceful bird, having a much more 
delicate form than the common partridge and bearing 
a nearer resemblance to the quail, which, however, it 
far exceeds in richness of plumage : this is greatly va- 
ried, though red and black prevail. It has a singular 
habit of basking in the sun covered with dust, appear- 
ing like a dry molehill until disturbed, when it rises 
with a sudden bound, shakes off the dust, expands its 
beautiful wings in the sunbeams, as if conscious of 
the splendour in which nature had arrayed it, and 
disappears in the impenetrable recesses of the forests. 
The black partridge so general throughout India is 
equally plentiful in these hills : the flesh of this bird 
is likewise very delicate and the plumage far su- 
perior to that of the common partridge of Europe. The 
jungle-fowl, of which I have before spoken, are also 
