these flies straight up into the nearest tree, and thence,
standing almost on tip-toe on some horizontal bough, with
feathers erected and tail spread, chuckles or crows, or whatever
you like to call it, at the harking and yelping Cockers below, till
you walk up and (tell it not to your friends when you return
to camp) solemnly pot him or her then and there.
I was once nearly killed by a Cheer. I was standing in a rather
awkward place, the extreme outer edge of a plateau jutting
out for 20 or 30 yards near the base of a patch of precipitous
ground; behind me was a sheer fall of about forty feet; a
Cheer was flushed above, it was coming right for me. I let
off the gun somehow, and almost before it seemed well off,
my gun was dashed aside and I got a blow on the face that
made my nose bleed, and knocked me over the precipice, to
the bottom of winch my gun fell, as should I also, had not the
two men squatting at my feet seized my legs. Yet this bird,
as the state of the body proved, must have been at least 30
yards from me when the shot struck it, and it was stone dead
when I had sufficiently recovered myself to think of it.
But enough of personal reminiscences ; we have a far better
account of this species than I can pretend to give in my friend
Mr. Wilson's narrative. He says :—
"This species is an inhabitant of the lower and intermediate
ranges, seldom found at very high elevations, and never approaching
the limits of forest.
" Though far from being rare, fewer perhaps are met with
than of any other kind unless it is particularly sought for,
always excepting the Jewar. The reason of this may be that
the general character of the ground where they resort is not so
inviting in appearance to the sportsman as other places ;
besides, they arc everywhere confined to particular localities,
and are not, like the rest, scattered indiscriminately over almost
every part of the regions they inhabit. Their haunts are on
grassy hills with a scattered forest of oak and small patches
of underwood, hills covered with the common pine, near the
sites of deserted villages, old cow-sheds, and the long grass
amongst precipices and broken ground.
" They are seldom found on hills entirely destitute of trees
or jungles, or in the opposite extreme of deep shady forest ;
in the lower ranges they keep near the top of the hill or about
the middle, and are seldom found in the valleys or deep ravines.
Further in the interior they are generally low down, often in
the immediate vicinity of the villages, except in the breedingseason,
when each pair seeks a spot to perform the business of
incubation ; they congregate in flocks of from five or six to
ten or fifteen, and seldom more than two or three lots inhabit
the same hill.
" They wander a good deal about the particular hill they
are located on, but not beyond certain boundaries, remaining
about one spot for several days or weeks, and then shifting
to another, but never entirely abandoning the place, and year
after year they may, to a certainty, be found in some quarter
of it.
" During the day, unless dark and cloudy, they keep concealed
in the grass and bushes, coming out morning and
evening to feed. When come upon suddenly while out, they
run off quickly in different directions, and conceal themselves
in the nearest cover, and seldom more than one or two get on
the wing. They run very fast, and if the ground is open and
no cover near, many will run two or three hundred yards in
preference to getting up.
"After concealing themselves they lie very close, and are
flushed within a few yards. There is, perhaps, no bird of its
size which is so difficult to find after the flock have been disturbed
and they have concealed themselves ; where the grass
is very long, even if marked down, without a good dog it is
often impossible to flush them, and even with the assistance of the
best dogs not one-half will be found a second time. A person
may walk within a yard of one, and it will not move. I have
knocked them over with a stick, and even taken them with the
hand. In autumn the long grass, so prevalent about many of
the places they resort to, enables them to hide almost anywhere ;
but this is burnt by the villagers at the end of winter, and they
then seek refuge in low jungle and brushwood, and with a dog
are not so difficult to find.
" Both males and females often crow at daybreak and dusk,
and in cloudy weather sometimes during the day. The crow is
loud and singular, and, when there is nothing to interrupt, the
sound may be heard for at least a mile. It is something like the
words cliir-a-pir, c/nr-a-pir, ckir cliir, c/iinva, cliirwa, but a good
deal varied ; it is often begun before complete daylight, and in
spring, when the birds are numerous, it invariably ushers in the
day ; in this respect it may rival the domestic cock. When pairing
and scattered about, the crow is often kept up for nearly half an
hour, first from one quarter, then another; and now and then all
seem to join in a chorus. At other times it seldom lasts more
than five or ten minutes.
"The Cheer Pheasant feeds chiefly on roots, for which it digs
holes in the ground, grubs, insects, seeds and berries, and, if near
cultivated fields, several kinds of grain forma portion'of its
diet; it does not eat grass or leaves like the rest of our Pheasants.
" It is easy to rear in confinement, and might, without difficulty,
be naturalized in England, if it would stand the long frosts and
snows of severe winters, which I imagine is rather doubtful.
" This bird flies rather heavily, and seldom very far. Like
most others, it generally utters a few loud screeches on getting
up, and spreads out the beautifully barred feathers of its long
tail both when flying and running. It does not perch much on