The liija l is another. This bird they call (Ar.) bii-qalamun (chameleon) because, between head and tail, it has five or six changing colours, resplendent [barraq) like a pigeon's throat. It is about as large as the kabg-i-dari- and seems to be the kabg-i-dari of Hindustan. As the kabg-i-darl moves (jySriir) on the heads (kii/tih) of mountains, so does this. It is in the Nijr-au mountains of the countries of Kabul, and in the mountains lower down but it is not found higher up. People tell this wonderful thing about it: When the birds, at the onaet of winter, descend to the hill-skirts, if they come over a vineyard, they can fly no further and are taken. God knows the truth ! The flesh of this bird is very savoury.
The partridge (durraj} 3 is another. This is not peculiar to Hindustan but is also in the Garm-sir countries*; as however some kinds are only in Hindustan, particulars of them are given here. The durraj {Franco/inus vulgaris) may be of the same bulk as the kiklik 5 ; the cock's back is the colour of the henpheasant {qirg/idzual-uing mada-si) ; its throat and breast are black, with quite white spots.6 A red line comes down on both sides of both eyes.7 It is named from its cry 8 which is something like Shir daravi s/iakrak.9 It pronounces shir short; ddram shakrak it says distinctly. Astarabad partridges are said to cry Bat mini tutildr (Quick ! they have caught me). The partridge of Arabia and those parts is understood to cry, Bil
I Part of the following passage about the lilja {var. lukka^ lucha) is verbatim with part of that on f. 135 ; both were written about 934-5 AH. as is shewn by Shaikh Zain (Index s.n.) and by inference from references in the text (Index s.n. B.N. date of composition). See Appendix N.
- Lit. mountain-partridge. There is ground for understanding that one of the birds known in the region as menials is meant. See Appendix N. ' Sans, ckakora ; Ar. durraj; P. kabg; T. kiklik.
4 Here, probably, southern Afghanistan.
5 Caecabis ehukur (Scully, Shaw's Vocabulary) or C. fallescens (Hume, quoted under No. 126 E. D. Ross' Polyglot List).
II " In some parts of the country {i.e. India before 1841 ad.), tippets used to be made of the beautiful black, white-spotted feathers of the lower plumage (of the dttrrdj), and were in much request, but they are rarely procurable now" {Bengal Sporting Magazine for 1841, quoted by Jerdon, it, 561).
' A broad collar of red passes round the whole neck (Jerdon, ii, 558).
8 Ar. durraj means one who repeats what he hears, a tell-tale.
9 Various translations have been made of this passage, " I have milk and sugar" (Krskine), "J'ai du lait, un feu de sucre" (de Courteille), but with short shir, it might be read in more than one way ignoring milk and sugar. See Jerdon, ii, 55^ and Hobson Jobson s.n. Black partridge.
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