been puzzled ever since to know what it could have been, until your 'Game Birds'
appeared, when I recognized the description at once. The Black-breasted Kahj
was common, and I had shot numbers or them in the same locality, so there is no
SSDMM m y
h * V 1 ^ , m
i s t a k e n l l l e A r a c a n Silver Pheasant for the Kalij. The
f
r
sphmdid blue of the bird I saw was very striking. It was of slender make, and
LcuredU * H " m o v e m e i U s - 1 o n l y had a rifle in hand or could have
THE RED JUNGLE-FOWL. (Vol. I., pp. 217, et seq.)—
J ' R " , H ' T^son says : "Jungle-Fowl, which the people call Kura, afford very fine
sport here in Chittagong. lhe low hills which fringe the bases of the various
ranges are divided by numerous narrow valleys, which have been now converted
' i n A K I
W , M , , N 6 . S T ' T U F P?ddy cultivation, while the hills themselves still remain
clothed with scrub jungle and forest. The birds attracted to the cover these more
or less isolated lulls afford, by the rice in the intervening valleys, may be flushed
IN great numbers, by coolies beating through the scrub, and afford fine shootine to
sportsmen posted m the valleys, as the birds cross these, seeking new cover in
the next:of these low hills. I hey fly under these conditions very fast, and take
hard hitting to bring them down."
THE GREY JUNGLE-FOWL. (Vol. I., pp. 231, et seq.)—
There is a great difference of opinion ns to the value of this species for the table.
Major Mclnroy writes: *'Mr. Davison says (Vol. I., p. 235): The Grey Jungle-
Cock, even at the best, is very dry and hard. This is correct literally as to the old
cock, but most people would suppose it to apply to the species, and if so. it cannot
be said to be so everywhere, as a young bird of either sex is most palatable and
gamey, when hung for a day or two. This applies to Mysore."
To whom replies Captain E. A. Butler as follows: " Adverting to the remarks
of Mr. Davison and Major Mclnroy on the Grey Jungle-Fowl, as A bird for table,
1 beg to recoid my experience :—
" When living at Mount A boo some years ago, I shot numerous Jungle-Fowl at
the foot of the hill, in the cold weather, and always found them (old and young of
both sexes) excellent eating, reminding one of the flavour of an English Pheasant.
On turning to the account of the bird in the first volume of the GAME BIRDS. I was
surprised to find it cried down as AN article of FOOT!, and intended writing to you
before ; however, perhaps it is as well I delayed doing so. as my opinion now is
changed from the following circumstance \ At the beginning of March, this year.
I shot a pair of Jungle-Fowl (male and /en/ale) near Belgaum. in the afternoon, and
in the evening, after returning home, my butler said they smelt so strong that he did
not consider them fit for table. Having decided upon skinning them, I had them
put upon ONE side till the following day, when I discovered that the strong odour,
referred to by the butler, arose from the crops of the birds being charged to the
muzzle with human excrement.
" This may be an exceptional case, but as food is scarce in the hot weather, I have
no doubt myself that, at that season, they feed constantly upon the filth 1 have
mentioned, so recommend those who regard the flesh as 'palatable and gamey'
to satisfy themselves in future before ordering them for table as to the source from
which that ' gamey' flavour is produced.
" I may add that two Pea-Fowl, shot the same day, had their crops also bulged
with the same disgusting food, and yet all of the birds were shot in a wild jungle
far away from any village, and where only a few wood-cutters existed. In the
cold weather anil in the rains, when food is abundant I dare say they may be tit
for table, and indeed I know from experience that they are excellent eating j but
in the hot weather, when their natural food is scarce, there can be no doubt, from
the above facts, that they are the foulest of feeders, as also are the Grey and
Black Partridges, some of the Button-Quails, and numerous other species of so-called
Game Birds that I could mention."
THE PAINTED SPUR-FOWL. (Vol. I, pp. 2$$tetseq)—
Several correspondents note additional localities where this species has been
observed. Mr. A. M. Markhara says : " I have shot the Painted Spur-Fowl in
the wooded rocky hills in the south of the Allahabad district. They are fairly common
there."
Mr. W. Forsyth remarks : " I have shot the Painted Spur-Fowl at Rhotas. a place
30 or 40 miles up the Sonc from Dehrec, where the Grand Trunk Road crosses that
river. It is common in the hills on the Gya and Shahabad sides of the river."
And Captain E. A. Butler writes : " I have just examined a skin of this species
shot near Gokak, about 40 miles north-north-west of Belgaum. The man who shot
it told me lhat he saw five or six more at the same time, and that he fancied it was
not uncommon about the hills in that neighbourhood."
THE HIMALAYAN SNOW-COCK. (Vol. I., pp. 2 6 8 , ^ ^ . )—
Speaking of this species I said that it probably extended west of Kashmir into
Afghanistan. Lieutenant Fairbrother. of the 29th P. N. I., writing from Kurrum,
29th June 18S0, says: "A party which ascended the highest peak (Sectaram,
15.000 feet) a week ago, came across a brood of Snow-Cock, and captured all the
chicks (nine I think), but later released them- The parents were not obtained,
though fired at with a small rifle, the party having no gun." As no specimens were
preserved, we cannot even yet be quite positive what the species is that inhabits the
Sufaid Koh. but there is little doubt that it is the same as the Himalayan one.
In speaking of the habits of this species, I remarked that, although I had always
found them wild and wary, 1 had heard that in some parts of the hills they were
extremely tame. Lt. A . C. Bruce, R.E., confirms the accounts I had received
from others of their lameness. He says :—
"In 1K75 I myself shot the Himalayan Snow-Cock, about 13 000 feet above sea
level, ABOVE the Neelni Nulla in Kashmir. The best description of the place
where I actually shot these birds, will be to say that l found them on high ridges
above the Upper TrUangum Nulla, about four easy marches from Bundypur on the
Wooller Lake. I myself only found them in this particular place, but I have no
doubt that there are plenty of them scattered over the district surrounding Gurais
and Tilail ; subject to the condition they would not be found lower down than about
13,000 feet, at any rate prior to the end of September.
"Above this altitude I believe they occur throughout the higher spurs of the
Haramook mountain, &c.
"Where I shot the birds I could have killed a good many as there was a targe
pack thereabouts, and they were certainly the tamest game Inrds I ever came across.
The largest of the two I shot was a male ; it weighed 81bs., and measured over 30
inches in length, and 4.4 in expanse. The other was a female not very much smaller,
but wanting the blunt spurs. What struck me particularly about these birds was
their lameness and singularly musical call. When walking they carry their tails like
an ordinary hen."
Major C. H. T. Marshall writes : *'Here, in Chamha, they call the Snow-Cock Galound."
An egg of this species will be found figured at the bottom of the third of the plates
of eggs that follow this Appendix.
THE PAINTED PARTRIDGE OR SOUTHERN FRANCOLIN. (Vol.
II., pp. 19, et seq.)—
In describing the distribution of this species I included the Kistnah district within
its range. A Reviewer, with the usual self-complacent ignorance of his class,
asserted that I was wrong, and that it was the Black Partridge that occurred there.
This was palpably absurd to any one who had studied the distribution of the'two
species, but yet it may be as well to slate that Mr. J. G. Hoisfall has kindly
sent me a specimen of the Partridge found in parts of the upland taluks of the
Masulipatam (Kistnah) district, and this proves to be, as I said, Francolinus picius,
the Painted Partridge or Southern Francolin.
When Vol. II. was written I was unable to ascertain on any good authority that
this species occurred in Ceylon. Neither Layard nor Holdsworlh had ever met with
it, though the latter had heard that it did occur. Two or three residents of the
island, whom I consulted, denied its occurrence ; and, as I had good reason to
believe that it did not, in the Peninsula, range further south than 11*50* North
Latitude, I had no difficulty in accepting their statements. I have now, however,
ascertained that a small outlying colony of this, or a very closely allied species, exists in
G 2