case in the Sirsa District in which this cruel sport was practised
by two guns down at the water's edge, and a great number
killed, and during the next week a large number of eggs were
found deserted and destroyed (I suppose by crows and
mongooses) in what was known to be a favourite breeding place
two or three miles from the tank.
Towards evening they settle down for the night, in some
quite open place, and whereas during the noonday nap, they
are scattered far and wide in twos or threes, during the night
they gather quite close together, I suppose for facility of watch
and ward.
And during the night they must keep better watch than during
the day, for often when crossing the huge Oosur plains in
Etfiwah after dark, at times after midnight, I have heard flocks
of them rise at considerable distances from me. Moreover, I have
never found their feathers about in the morning, as I have of so
many ground-roosting birds, showing where a Jackal or a Fox has
made a lucky hit. If one remembers how abundant this species
is in many districts, and how superabundant in the same places
Foxes, Jackals, and wild Cats, and also that the Sand-Grouse
leaves a strong scent by which a dog will nose out a wounded
one bidden amongst the clods of a ploughed field in a moment,
it docs speak well for their chaukidars that none of these little
Sand-Grouse ever seem to fall victims to these midnight marauders.
Still native fowlers will at times surprise them, and during
dark nights, in some fashion, creep up and drop a net over the
entire party. The net used is a very light one, a truncated
triangle, about 8 feet wide at bottom, 4 at top, and about 4 wide,
attached to two light slender bamboos, each about eight feet long.
The covey is marked as it goes to roost, and then the man about
10 o'clock (the night must be dark, and is all the better for being
windy) steals up and drops the net over the whole pack. I went
out several nights to try and be present at a capture, but on
only one occasion were any caught, and then only two, but
a few nights after, the men, who were aherias, and who were still
in my camp, snaring ducks and quail, brought in some forty that
they professed to have captured in this way at one haul, and they
were polite enough to hint that it was the bad smell of a
European that had foiled their efforts on previous occasions.
They were, doubtless, humbugging in some way, but one thing
is certain, that they do constantly manage to catch whole packs
in some way or other during dark nights, and are, therefore,
though they certainly do not look so, considerably sharper than
" the beasts of the field."
Except when coming and going, as above indicated, to watering
places, this species never per se, I think, yields much
sport, as the parties are scattered far and wide, and you can
never make sure of many shots ; but when out on what, as boys,
we used to call a " happy-go-lucky rampage," they contribute
not a little to the amusement. They lie close, it is true, and as a
rule are far from shy, but they are exactly, when squatting, the
colour of the ground ; they rise with extreme rapidity, by cboicc
just behind you, or in a line with some lagging beater, and,
even under the most favourable circumstances, it is by no means
impossible to fire both barrels without tangible results.
Although this species is a permanent resident and breeds with
us, it moves about a good deal according to season, and especially
where the country is not well drained and the soil is retentive
of moisture, they desert large tracts, which at other seasons are
suitable to them, during a part or the whole of the rainy season.
Jerdon alludes to this in regard to Mhow and parts of Saugor,
but during a heavy rainy season there is scarcely a single
clayey or deep black-soil tract, where there are no gravelly
uplands, that does not afford an illustration of it, and every one
knows how, during the rains, the high blown sand ridges, so
common in Upper India, and dotted along the tops with tufts of
Sarpatta grass, arc a certain find for any Bhut-titur in the
neighbourhood.
T H I S SPECIES lays almost anywhere, provided the situation is
open and the ground dry at the time ; but the haunts it best
loves, and where its nests may be found in greatest numbers, are
scattered fallow or stubble, or newly-ploughed fields, dotted
about on and surrounded by large semi-desert plains.
As to the breeding season, I hardly know what to say. I
have found their eggs in almost every month of the year in one
place or another, but in the North-Western Provinces the
majority probably lay from April to June.
Further west and north, where the rainfall is very scanty, they
must, I think, have two or more broods in the year.
Khan Nizam-ud-din, Khan Bahadur, the well-known Punjab
sportsman, who has collected for me for so many years, always
kept up a register, showing, from day to daj', the various birds
and eggs obtained, the localities in which found, &c., and this he
always sent me with each batch of skins and eggs.
From his registers for 1869 and 1870, I find that he took
nests of this present species on the subjoined dates in each year:
this was at Arniwala, some fifteen miles east of FAziika in the
Sirsa District.
1869. 1870.
January
FEBRUARY 3rd, 24th.
March 1st, 4th, 12th, 21st
April 21st, 22nd, 27th, 28th.
May 8lh, 25th, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 15th, 28th.
June l6lh, 17th, 30th. nth, 15th, 21st, 30th.
July 1st, 2nd, 5th, 10th, n t h , I2th. 23rd.
August
IO