•92 THE BLACK-BACKED KAI.IJ.
" It appears to dislike sunshine, and scarcely leaves the
shade of trees or shrubs while the sun is up.
" It seldom, if ever, perches in the day time, but keeps to
the ground, unless suddenly disturbed by dogs or wild animals,
when it may take refuge in a tree as a last resource. If alarmed
by men it always runs along under the scrub if the
circumstances are favourable for that mode of escape ; but if
not, it flics within twenty feet of the ground for forty or fifty
yards and then again alights on the ground. By making a short
detour they will be found close to where they alighted.
" Usually it is a silent bird, but when suddenly alarmed it
utters a sharply repeated " koorchi, koorchi, koorchi" as it rises
on the wing. When, however, the males are in the fighting
humour—which they usually are about breeding time—their
call, as they advance towards each other, is " koov koor ; waak
waak;" the former being the threatening, and the latter the
attacking note. They also at times answer each other's calls
in the jungles.
" In fine weather the male often makes a sharp drumming
noise by beating his wings against his sides, somewhat after
the style of the wing flapping of a domestic cock preparatory
to crowing from some elevated place ; but instead of the cock's
few leisurely flaps the Kalij strikes oftener and smarter, producing
a sound more like drumming than flapping. From the
same spot he repeats this drumming noise twice or thrice at
short intervals, but gives no voice along with it. It seems as
though he was in such joyful mood that he must give expression
to his delight somehow, but inherited experience had effectually
taught him that any attempt at crowing in the jungles
was likely to attract the attention of wild beasts, and that he
must stick to his drumming and leave the crowing part to
the domestic cock who can safely indulge in that amusement.
" The natives look on the drumming of the Kalij as a sure
sign of approaching rain. It is heard at all seasons of the
year, but most frequently before the setting in of the rainy
season ; at other times generally just before a fall of rain.
" The food of the Kalij is varied in the extreme. It eats
almost everything in the shape of seeds, fruit, and insects, but
is particularly fond of the larva; of beetles out of cowdung and
decayed wood, and of several of the jungle yams which bear
tubers along their vines at the axils of the leaves. When the
vine-borne tubers are exhausted, it will scratch away the soil to
get at those underground.
" Natives who have kept them alive say they thrive excellently
on yams and grubs only, but that no insect comes amiss
to them except ants. It is also very partial to all kinds of grain
from the fields adjoining its cover, seeds of the Erythrina and
cucurbitous plants, the young tops of several nettles and
ferns, and the fruit of numerous plants, especially of the Totney
THE BLACK-BACKED KALIJ. 193
{Polygonum mollc) and the yellow Raspberry (Rubiis flavus), two
shrubs which yield more bird-food in Sikhim than do any other
dozen kinds of plants put together.
" The Black-backed Kalij is too tame and too fond of keeping
to the ground to afford much sport. It can use its legs so much
better than it can its wings that, unless very hard pressed, it
trusts entirely to the former, and they are worthy of its confidence,
for they can bear it over the ground with surprising
rapidity. The cover it affects is usually so dense and so full
of creepers, that a dog can scarcely make headway in it, and
has but little chance of outrunning it and forcing it to rise.
Sometimes six or eight are found in one covey, but usually
not more than three or four.
" A full grown male weighs about 2 ^ lbs. The flesh is rather
poor eating."
As supplementary to this I may add that Beavan says that
this species is " common about Darjeeling, at all elevations
between 2,000 and 7,000 feet, and also occurs abundantly in
the interior of Sikhim. I procured feral specimens of this
bird on one occasion in a ravine below Pankabari, at the
very foot of the hills ; on another in Major Wardropcr's plantation
at Darjeeling (about 6,000 feet), and found them abundant
at Rinchingpoong in Sikhim (from 5,000 to 6,000 feet), where,
when put up by a dog, they took to trees and were easily shot.
They roost on the same bough every night; and consequently
the exact locality is easily found by the number of white
droppings which accumulate on the ground below. They were
generally met with in pairs or small parties of three and four."
Colonel Tickell remarks that the only way he ever succeeded
in shooting the Black-backed Kalij without dogs to help him
" has been by going at early dawn along the paths used by
travellers before any one was up or stirring near the station.
In such spots, before the daylight has become too decided,
or any passenger has broken the stillness of the mountain side,
the Hill Pheasants are sure to be met with, picking and scratching
about the dung scattered on the road ; but creep as silently
and swiftly as you will, peep round the corner with the stealth
of a Red Indian, and have your gun full-cocked and almost
at the shoulder, yet ten to one this keen-eyed bird sees you first,
and you get your shot as he is diving into a thicket, and
succeed probably in merely knocking off a few feathers."
He also tells us that " all three species of Kalij have the same
notes. When unmolested, or quietly turning up the leaves and
scratching the ground for food, they emit a frequent gentle
cluck, a little sharper than that of a domestic hen, and occasionally
these clucks are rapidly repeated, and end in a louder, shriller
screech or chirrup, which constitutes the crow or call of the
cock bird. If suddenly flushed, it rises with a loud harsh
chuckle or cackle."