FRAN COLINUS PICTUS. 
747 
a heavy shower of rain, when the cocks resort to the tops of the white-ants’ hills and give out their harsh cry. 
With a clog they may easily be found, hut without it is difficult to flush them. By marking the spots from 
which the crowing came, I generally found the birds in clumps of grass and hushes, of about 3 feet high or 
less, out of which I put them by running into them with a shout. They fly straight and with considerable 
speed, and were, as far as I can judge, usually in pairs. My friend, Mr. Edward Watson, informed me that 
he had often shot, with the help of a dog, several brace in an afternoon at the same locality (Wellemade) of 
which I now write. The flesh of this Partridge is good eating, and would, no doubt, be much improved could 
it be kept as in a cold climate. 
Jerdon, who was a keen observer of the habits of Indian game-birds, has the following paragraph on this 
species : — “It delights in grassy plains and fields, but more affects open, dry, and raised plains with scattered 
bushes than the low-lying damper meadows that the Black Partridge delights in. It is always when the giain 
is ripe, as well as at other times not unfrequcntly, to be found in wheat-fields and other cultivated lands, 
occasionally in open and grassy glades in the midst of thin forest-jungle. It chiefly occurs in pairs, now and 
then several, not far from each other. Early in the morning the cock bird may be heard uttering his peculiar 
guttural call or broken ‘ crow/ chee-lcee-kerray, chee-kee-kerray , which can be heard a very long way off, though 
by no means loud, and is answered on all sides. On approaching the spot whence the sound proceeds, if 
carefully looked for, he may be seen seated on the stump of a tree or a thick bush, or an ant-hill, or other 
elevated spot ; but wdien he finds himself discovered, he sinks down and runs off in a way that puzzles dogs 
much When the grass is not too high, the Painted Partridge affords very fair shooting with a steady 
pointer, as also in the wheat-fields in November and December, when the birds have scattered. I have seen 
this bird perch on a low tree, hut very rarely, and only when disturbed by a dog.” 
I have no doubt that the Uva birds take to the rice-fields in the same way when the grain is ripe. The 
food of all the specimens I shot consisted entirely of black ants. The cry, as noticed by myself, resembled the 
syllables quserk-quserk-guserk, and was one of the most singularly harsh and grating bird-sounds I have ever 
heard. 
Mr. Blewitt writes that “ it is peculiarly active, uttering a low click, click while it scratches up the ground 
for food ; or it will roll itself in the dust and nestle on the ground with apparent delight, all the while uttering 
the low click, click.” 
Ni d ifi c at ion. — As I procured immature birds at Wellemade in May, I presume this Partridge breeds during 
the November and December rains in Uva. According to Mr. Blew'itt it breeds at Jhansi in July and 
September, its nest being placed on the ground in a slight excavation, and under the shelter of a bush or thick 
patch of grass ; it is made of roots of grass and grass itself. The regular number of eggs is seven or eight ; 
and in shape “ they are very broad and obtuse at the large end, and much pointed towards the small end.” 
“The colour,” writes Mr. Hume, “varies a good deal; some eggs are drabby white, with a faint greenish 
tinge, others are brownish drab, others cream-colour, and some pale cafe au lait.” They are spotless, and 
measure 1*39 by 1T6 inch. 
5d 
