A L T H O U G H L A R G E numbers may be found in the same enceinte,
they never associate in the huge flocks in which the other
species of Sand-Grouse occur. Ten is the largest pack that I
have ever flushed at one time, and except from September to
February, they are as a rule only met with in pairs.
Of their habits little can be said, for, except when coming
down in the mornings to drink, one rarely sees them before they
rise. They arc seldom found at any great distance from the
base of their hilly homes, unless during the hot weather, when
want of water compels them at times to straggle away for some
miles. Except on cloudy days, they usually work some way
up the hills, after 10 o'clock, and bask at the base of some
thorny shrub or Euphorbia bush, but in dull, cold weather they
seem to remain the whole day below. In the mornings they
may always be found in the scrub and amongst the grass and
rocks at the bases of the hills, and even in small patches of
cultivation, here and there dotted about these, where they
feed on grain, seeds and the like ; not at all, so far as I have
observed, on insects. On the 4th of January 186S I shot 13 brace
near Bhoondsec in the Gurgaon district, the crops of every
one of which, I noted, contained exclusively Moth, a common
Indian pulse.
Where they are abundant they afford extremely pretty
shooting, and 20 to 25 brace is by no means an out-of-the-way
bag for two good guns. Even though at first flushed in parties of
7 to 10, they break up into pairs and singles after the first shot,
and lie well. I have never seen them wild or rise at greater
distances than 30 or at most 40 yards, and very often they
whirr up within a few feet. They rise with a chuckling chirp,
fly low, and soon alight again, often however running a considerable
distance after they have alighted. They run extremely
well, compared with other Sand-Grouse, as I have repeatedly
noticed when standing above whilst others were shooting
below. For a moment, I have often mistaken them for Grey
Partridges.
Although their flight is strong and tolerably fast, they offer
an easy shot, and can be dropped with charges and at distances
that would afford little prospects of a kill in the case of
exustus.
Their plumage is very delicate, and half the feathers of the
back and breast are often knocked out by the fall when they
are shot. The aural orifices are very large, and being only
partially covered with feathers of which the webs are very far
apart, are conspicuous ; but the birds do not appear to hear
particularly well, or if they do, they are very tame or stupid, for
they continually rise at one's feet, and if much disturbed lie so
close that they are almost as hard to raise as Button Quail.
Their crepuscular habits arc undoubted, though I cannot say
that I myself have often noticed them after dusk.
Mr. Adam tells us that he had been shooting with Thakur
Kesri Sing, of Kuchawan, who on their way home told him of
a much-frequented drinking place of this species. It was
agreed to go and shoot a few.
" Accordingly," he says, " we at once started for the pond.
The patch of water—it could hardly be called a pond—was
situated in a grove of Acacia trees close to a large masonry well.
We reached the place about half an hour before sunset, and
then I observed a few Pigeons and Doves, a Wag-tail and a
Redstart coming to drink ; about half an hour after the sun
had set, or when it was dusk to all intents and purposes, I heard
the peculiar cluck, cluck, which fasciatns makes when rising,
and some six or seven birds flew rapidly through the clump
under the trees and settled down on the bank about eight feet
from the water. There they lay perfectly still for two or three
seconds, and then all of them commenced a rapid run down to
the water. By this time others came flocking in, and in about
five minutes I could see that there were about fifty birds collected.
It was now so dark that, although only about twenty yards
distant from them, I required my binoculars to see the birds.
" I fired at a group of six and killed two ; the other birds flew
off, uttering their clucking call; all flew very low round the tope,
and again settled down near the water. I again fired and killed
five with one barrel, and when the birds returned, I killed three
more. After the third shot none returned."
Mr. R. Thompson also writes:—
" I can quite corroborate Dr. Jerdon's observations as to the
crepuscular habits of this species. It is quite nocturnal, and
feeds and goes to water even in the darkest night. I have
seen the birds arrive at the edge of a plain at dusk, and remain
feeding and going to water during the dark hours before the
moon got up. I have frequently too noted parties of six or
seven flitting about noiselessly over an opening in the forest
long after sunset.
" During the early part of the rains these birds entirely leave
the forests and jungles, and then, all through the rains, live in
the open country, exactly as P. exustus does, but they are never
noisy like the latter.
" Large numbers of the Painted Grouse are taken during the
rainy season by bird-catchers, who, approaching under cover of
a screen made of green leaves and twigs, drop a circular net,
suspended to a hoop and held out horizontally at the end of a
long bamboo, over the birds, which, as a rule, never seem to
suspect that there is danger at hand."
This species is in no degree migratory, but appears to live all
the year round and breed in almost precisely the same places,
although, as the seasons change, they may move a few miles and
vary the nature of the cover they affect.