LITTLE BUTTON-QUAIL 273 



above; even this distinction can only be properly appreciated 

 in adults. As the Andamans are mostly under forest, there are 

 few places in which this grass-haunting bird can live, and so it is 

 little known there. 



Little Button-Quail; 



Turnix dussumieri. Dahki, Hindustani. 



This funny little midget, about the size of a sparrow, bears 

 the same relation in size to the other hemipodes that the jack 

 snipe does to the other snipe, and curiously enough is dis- 

 tinguished in two other similar ways, in having a pointed tail 

 and brighter-coloured plumage ; there is but little black in the 

 upper plumage, and a good deal of straw-colour and bright 

 chestnut, and the under-surface is pale and clear. The buff 

 breast is plain in the centre, but along the sides of it are some 

 round markings of black. The legs are usually white, but 

 sometimes blue-grey like the bill. The characteristic superiority 

 in size of the hen is not so striking in this species, and she has 

 no distinctive decoration ; but the young are duller and more 

 uniformly brown than the old birds. 



The little button-quail, which, I take it, is the button-quail, 

 from the small size, is also the commonest of our species where 

 it occurs, and it has a wide range over the Empire ; but it is 

 not found at higher elevations than 6,000 feet, nor in Ceylon or 

 the extreme south of India. To the drier portions of the country 

 it appears only to come in the monsoon. It has the character- 

 istic habits of hemipodes to perfection, sitting particularly close 

 in the low cover it affects, and when raised taking an even 

 shorter flight than the other species, so that it can hardly be 

 shot ; while after this effort it sits so very tight that not only do 

 dogs pick it up, but it has even been caught by hand. 



In disposition it is about the tamest bird in existence ; in a 

 cage it will let one pick it up like a white mouse, and seems 

 equally at home in close captivity, so that a pair of these tiny 

 beings would make interesting pets for any one who likes birds, 

 but can only find room for quite a small portable cage. In 

 England they have even been known to lay in a cage, and at this 



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