290 Allen’s naturalist’s library. 
guns,* lo be loaded, as fast as emptied, by a servant With one 
gun only it would be necessary to wash out the barrels two or 
three times in the course of the afternoon, or at all events to 
wait every now and then for them to cool. A tolerably good shot 
will bag fifty to sixty brace in about three hours, and knock 
down many others that are not found. I remember one day 
getting into a deyra, or island formed by alluvial deposit, in the 
Ganges, between Patna (Bankipore) and Sonepore, which was 
sown almost entirely over with gram (chunna), and which 
literally swarmed with Quail. I do not exaggerate when I say 
they were like locusts in number. Every step that brushed the 
covert sent off a number of them, so that I had to stand every 
now and then like a statue and employ my arms only, and that 
in a stealthy manner, for the purpose of loading and firing. A 
furtive scratch of the head, or a wipe of the heated brow, 
dismissed a whole “ bevy ” into the next field ; and, in fact, the 
embarras de richesse was nearly as bad as if there had been no 
birds at all.” 
Nest. — A slight hollow in the ground, with little or no lining, 
and sheltered by standing crops or grass, &c. 
Eggs. — Eight to twelve in number, but sometimes more are laid ; 
creamy-white or buff, more or less boldly blotched and spotted 
with rich brown. Average measurements, 1-15 by O’SS inch. 
THE PHEASANTS. SUB-FAMILY PHASIANINHi:. 
This Sub-family is scarcely separable from the Perdicince-, 
as in the genus P/iasianus, the first primary is about equal to 
the eighth. The tail, however, in typical Pheasants is much 
longer than the wing, and the plumage is much more ornamental 
than in any Partridge. 
THE TRUE PHEASANTS. GENUS I’HASIANUS. 
Phadanus, Linn, Syst. Nat. i. p. 270 (1766). 
Type, P. colchicus, Linn. 
Tail composed of eighteen feathers, long and wedge-shaped, 
the middle pair being very much longer than the outer pair. 
* He refers to the days before breech-loaders came in. 
