250 INDIAN SPOETING BIEDS 



as the brown-breasted kind, even in the same district, and 

 Tickell, who discovered it, remarked that in Tenasserim it 

 actually avoided mountains, and frequented low-lying jungle on 

 dry undulated groimd. Davison also observed that though 

 sometimes found in heavy forest, it preferred a thinner growth, 

 and unlike the rufous-throated hill-partridge, would settle again 

 on the ground when flushed by a dog, instead of perching. 



In other respects, in their skulkmg habits, and in having 

 a double-whistled note, these birds conform to the ordinary hill- 

 partridge type, but the small differences of detail are interesting, 

 as they are correlated with differences in structural points — 

 the white down-patch under the wing, and the absence of 

 a peculiar bony ridge over the eye which the typical hill- 

 partridges possess. 



Malayan or Charlton's Hill-Partridge. 



*Tropicoperdix charltoni. 



Charlton's hill-partridge is a Malayan bird, ranging as far east 

 as Borneo, which Hume apparently included, because it was said 

 to have been sent from the hills of South Tenasserim, though he 

 doubted its actual occurrence there. As a matter of fact, how- 

 ever, it is very difficult to draw exact lines in the distribution of 

 skulking forest birds like partridges of this type, and South 

 Tenasserim forms the northern limit of several Malayan species. 



The present bird is closely allied to the green-legged species, 

 and also has green legs, although Hume thought they were red 

 and figured them accordingly ; I speak from examining live 

 specimens at the London Zoo. The two species, however, 

 present marked distinctions in marking and colouring, the present 

 bird having distinct orange-rusty cheek patches and a plain chest- 

 nut band beneath the black-speckled white throat. The black on 

 the buff sides takes the form of distinct vertical bars, and that on 

 the brown back is in very fine pencilling, finer than any found in 

 our other hill-partridges, and recalling the delicate markings of 

 some ducks. These two green-legged forms make a small 



*Perdix on plate. 



