Analysis of Competing Interests 
Relation to Agriculture 
Very little interference with agricultural crops has been reported, 
or observed by us, in studying this species. Scattered instances have 
been noted where seed wheat, freshly planted, has been dug up. In- 
frequently, sprouted grain has been pulled up but only where the wheat 
has been broadcast and then covered by the use of a light board drag. 
Cultivation in India is often very casual with the seed planted almost 
at the surface. Thus, this picking up of wheat seems to be largely an 
extension of their search for waste grain after the fields have been cut. 
Standing crops, to our knowledge, are not bothered though I would expect 
them to be tempted by juicy fruits like tomatoes. The small desert melon 
(citrullus colocynthis), common in waste, semi-arid areas, is occasionally 
picked open. Cursory food analysis of 60 gray francolins by Husain and 
Bhalla (27) led to the conclusion that these birds were of considerable 
benefit to agriculture. 
Usefulness 
As a source of food -~ The flesh of the gray francolin is white, 
rather dry and not too gamey in flavor. In general, it is not considered 
to be quite the equal of the black francolin, but the grays are so gener- 
ally abundant and easy to net that, for many years, they have been sold 
in vast numbers in town and village bazaars. This traffic is now nominally 
illegal, but our head trapper reported that large numbers of francolins, 
mostly grays are still sold in Delhi throughout many a week from October 
to April. Wayne Bohl contacted one trapper near Jhansi who had 400 grays 
killed, cleaned, plucked and iced, ready for shipment to market. Leading 
restaurants in many cities make a specialty of serving "tandouri partridges 
and fried francolin are considered delicacies, on many a village menu. 
We found them to be extremely palatable. 
"1 
In British times, in India, francolins commonly sold for 4 to 12 
annas (5 to 16 cents) each, But inflation has upped bird, as well as 
other prices so that about Delhi in 1962 one paid from 1 to 1% rupees 
(21 to 32 cents) per bird bought in the bazaars. There are still many 
bird catchers, belonging to trapper castes, who support large families 
on the proceeds from their netting activities. 
As a fighting bird -- It is in southern Iran and the Indian sub- 
continent that gray francolins come into their own as birds used for 
fighting. Like the chukar, they are pugnacious, though easily tamed, 
and commonly kept in small, domed, cages from which they can be released 
at will without fear of escape, In Karachi it was normal to see a trainer 
carrying a cage and conditioning his bird by a three mile walk every day. 
Fridays (the Moslem sabbath) and holidays are the favorites for fighting 
these birds. Cock fights or mains are largely attended, such fights usu- 
ally attracting several thousand people in Karachi. 
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