THE SPUR-FOWL. 211 



a large white patch on each feather ; rest of under-parts mostly 

 white, edged with black, varying in width, according to age. 

 Total length, 12 inches; wing, C'l ; tail, 4*5 ; tarsus, 2. 



Adult Female — Crown blackish ; feathers of the forehead and 

 sides of the head with pale rufous centres; chin and throat 

 white ; rest of the plumage chestnut^ finely mottled with black. 

 Total length, 10*8 inches; wing, 5-6; tail, 3-8; tarsus, 1-9. 



Eange. — Ceylon. 



Habits. — To Colonel Legge's excellent work on the " Birds 

 of Ceylon," I am indebted for the following note : — "The shy 

 habits of this bird would prevent its being detected in most 

 places where it is even abundant, were it not for its noisy cries 

 or cackling, so well known to all who have wandered in our 

 Ceylon jungles. 



" It frequents tangled breaks, thickets in damp nalas, forest 

 near rivers, jungle over hillsides, and in fact any kind of cover 

 which will afford it entire concealment. 



" It runs with great speed, and has a knack of noiselessly 

 beating a retreat at one time, while at another it ventriloquises 

 its exciting notes until the sportsman becomes fairly exaspe- 

 rated, and gives up the attempt he has made to stalk it in dis- 

 gust. I have more than once endeavoured to cut off its retreat, 

 or flush it by rushing into a little piece of jungle or detached 

 copse in which I had found it, and from which it seemed im- 

 possible for it to escape, but I invariably failed in the attempt 

 — a failure aggravated by my utter bewilderment at its un- 

 accountable disappearance. 



"The cock birds begin to call about six in the morning, and 

 when one has fairly commenced, the curious ascending scale 

 of notes is taken up from one to another until the wood re- 

 sounds with their cries. 



" They seem always to keep in small parties, which perhaps 

 consist of the young of the year with their parents. 



" The natives in the Central Provinces snare them with horse^ 



p 2 



