THE PAINTED BUSH-QUAILS. 1 59 



Adult Female. — Like the female of M. erythrorliyncha^ but 

 paler. 



Range. — Central Provinces of India. 



III. THE MANIPUR PAINTED BUSH-QUAIL. MICROPERDIX 

 MANIPURENSIS. 



Perdicula inanipm-ensis, Hume, Str. F. ix. p. 467 (1880). 

 Microperdix manipurensis, Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. 

 xxii. p. 204 (1893). 



{Plate XI 11.) 



Adult Male — Above dark grey, barred (and blotched on the 

 wings) with black ; forehead, eyebrow-stripes, and throat dark 

 chestnut ; neck and chest grey, shading into tawny on the rest 

 of the under-parts, which have a black shaft-stripe and wide 

 black cross-bar on each feather. Total length, 6*5 inches ; 

 wing, 3'4 ; tail, 2 ; tarsus, i'o5. 



Adult Female. — Differs from the male in having no chestnut 

 on the head or throat, the latter being whitish, and the breast 

 and belly are buff. 



Range. — Sikhim and South-eastern Manipur Hills. 



This extremely handsome httle species was discovered by 

 Mr. A. O. Hume during his expedition to Manipur, and was 

 only met with in one place, in a patch of thick elephant-grass 

 lungle, where eleven adult and immature specimens were ob- 

 tained. A single bird was subsequently shot in the same dis- 

 trict, and there is also a skin of this species in the British 

 Museum which is said to have been obtained in Sikhim. No 

 doubt the bird occurs in the intermediate districts in suitably 

 localities and will be found by future collectors, but owing to 

 its skulking habits and small size, it has hitherto been over- 

 looked and the only specimens so far known are those men- 

 tioned above. It appears to live entirely in the almost im- 

 penetrable patches of elephant-grass, only venturing into the 

 more open spaces in the early morning when feeding, and never 

 rises till very hard pressed, preferring, if possible, to escape by 



