RED-CKESTED PARTRIDGE 251 



separate group of their own ; the present species has the usual 

 habits, hving in coveys and skulking in forest cover, and feeding 

 on the usual mixed diet. It is, however, not particular about 

 elevation, going down to the bases of the hills, though not 

 found off theiu. The note is described as a double whistle. 



Red-crested Partridge. 



RoUulus roiilroul. See-oul, Malay. 



To call this bird a wood-quail, as Hume does, is distinctly 

 misleading, for there is nothing specially quail-like about it, 

 since it closely resembles the hill-partridges in size and shape, 

 being round and dumpy, with very short tucked-in tail, and, 

 nevertheless, high on the legs. It has not, however, the long 

 claws of the wood-partridges, and the cock would look among 

 them like a rajah among coolies, with his bushy crimson aigrette 

 and suit of deep-blue velvet. Before the crest springs a bunch 

 of bristles, and this and the red eye-ring and legs are common to 

 both sexes ; otherwise the cock and hen could hardly be imagined 

 to belong to the same species, since the lady, though devoid of a 

 crest, is almost as brilliant as her mate, being clad m leaf-green, 

 a most extraordinary colour for any partridge, or for the hen 

 of any game-bird for that matter. Her wings are chestnut, 

 whereas the male's are only brown. 



The chicks are of a brown colour both in the down and in 

 the first plumage, as has been ascertained from specimens bred 

 in England. 



The red-crested partridge is a bird of the Malay region, 

 extending from South Tenasserim down through the Peninsula 

 and the islands to Java ; in Sumatra it is called Banisel. In spite 

 of its very aristocratic appearance — there is something about it 

 that always reminds one of a pigmy peafowl, in spite of the short 

 tail — it has much the same habits as the common-looking hill- 

 partridges, associating in small parties which frequent heavy 

 forest, and having a whistling note, described as mellow and 

 pleasant. The red-crests differ, however, in the detail of not 

 being nearly such inveterate scratchers as the hill-partridges, and 



