range cast of Mandla ; plentiful in the Satpuras between the
Wainganga river on the east and the Pachmarhi hills on the
west."
From 30 or 40 miles west of Beaur, it is common along
the Arvalis to Mount Abu, and thence in the hilly portions of
Mahi Kantha and Rewa Kantha, the lower sections at any rate
of the valleys of the Tapti and Ncrbudda, the westernmost
portions at least of the Vindhyas, Chota Oodcyporc, and the
entire Satpuras, with all southern ramifications, Meilghat and
Chckaldch.
Specimens have occurred to my knowledge in Seoni.in Raipur,
in Bhandara, and in the Tributary Mahals. Ball gives it from
Sambalpur south of the Mahanadi ; and Tickell gives the
" fc of .Sini*bboom as a locality for it.
'"h.-inda, and in Orissa
in Northern LRUZEIAT, ^ T — ,
North-Western Provinces, north of the Jumna, <^uu..,
north and cast of the Ganges, and other Eastern Provinces,
excepting always the Oudh Tarai colony, which may possibly
just extend into the Tarais of Rohilkhand and Behar.
Certainly the distribution of the Red Spur-Fowl is as yet very
imperfectly understood, and it inosculates so strangely with
that of the Painted Spur-Fowl, as will be seen when I come to
deal with that species, that at present I can make nothing of
the question. Both species seem to me to affect almost the same
localities and to have exactly the same habits, to be in fact
complemental species, like the Red and Grey Jungle-Fowl, or the
Black and Painted Partridges, &c, and the way in which they
seem to overlap each other's areas of distribution by many
hundreds of miles is therefore most inexplicable. I need perhaps
scarcely add that this species is essentially Indian and occurs
nowhere out of India.
* "Common," writes Mr. Vidal, "in the same localities as the Grey Jungle-Fowl
in all the thick forests of the Sahyadri Range, and more especially so at the summit
in the tract called the Konkan Gh.it Mahta. A few Spur-Fowl are also found here
and there in large temple forests, with thick undergrowth, in the Thai, Konkan, or
country below the Ghats ; but they are rare in such localities, and do not, as a
rule, leave the thick evergreen jungles of the main range.
t Its call," says Mr. Tames, "is one of the most conspicuous sounds at Matheran,
where it is very common."
THE RED SPUR-FOWL ranges from near sea level to an elevation
at Abu, the Pulneys, and the Nilgiris of 4,000 to 5,000
feet; indeed, on the latter it has been shot at over 7,500 feet.
It is essentially a bird of forests and jungle, on hilly and
broken land. It is unsafe to generalize from one's own limited
personal experience, but I have the impression that the Red
Spur-fowl goes in more for forests and earth, and that the
Painted one more affects scrub jungle and rocks. You rarely, if
ever, find the Red, you constantly find the Painted Spur-Fowl ill
very rocky ground.
During the day they are but seldom seen and are with
difficulty flushed (even with the aid of dogs) from forest
patches and thickets in which they are known to be, but in the
mornings and evenings they may be seen busy, feeding about
like domestic fowls, amongst low brushwood or even in stubble
fields on the outskirts of the jungle.
It is, however, very wary and often as you may thus observe
them from some little distance, it will only be quite by chance
that you succeed in getting within shot of them whilst thus
feeding.
On the slightest sound, the alarm is given, and the birds
disappear into the forest, either darting in on foot or flying
up into trees, where, hopping from bough to bough amongst
the thick foliage, or hiding in some dense tuft of parasites, they
are hopelessly lost to the sportsman.
At the breeding season they are always in pairs ; at other
times they keep in small flocks of from five to ten.
Though I have never seen them drinking, I think that water
must be a great attraction to them, for when in March and April
most of the streamlets dry up, all the Spur-Fowl for miles round
will be found collected in the few deep, jungly ravines, down
which a little water still trickles.
The Red Spur-Fowl cooked gipsy-fashion is excellent, better,
I think, than any of our Partridges, because it is more gamey ;
but cooked in the ordinary manner by native cooks, out in the
jungles, it is dry, hard and poor.
Their food consists chiefly, according to my experience, of
grain and seeds of all kinds, and small jungle fruit, the berries
of the dwarf Zizyphus (Jherbery). the figs of the Peepul and its
congeners, but I have often found the remains of bugs, beetles,
and other insects in their crops mixed with these.
Although I have shot a good many of this species, I know
very little of its habits ; it is a very sly lurking bird, and almost
the only time one sees it is when, roused by a happy chance
near one by dogs or beaters, it springs up with a strong whirring
flight, and a loud screaming chuckle, or when a momentary
glance is caught of it crossing some little path or darling round
a distant bush. Indeed, they run so fast, and so much oftener
run than fly, that I hold it in their case quite allowable to shoot