THE PHEASANT-QUAIL. 21 3 



I. THE MOUNTAIN PHEASANT-QUAIL. OPHRYSIA 

 SUPERCILIOSA. 



RoUuhis siiperciliosus, Gray, Knowls. Menag. Aves, p. 8, pi. xvi. 



(1846), 

 Ophrysia superciliosa, Bonap. C. R. xliii. p. 414 (1856) ; Hume 

 and Marshall, Game Birds of India, ii. p. 105, pi. (1879) ^ 

 Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 266 (1893). 

 Malacotur7iix siiperciliosus^ Blyth, P. Z. S. 1867, p. 475 ; Gould, 



B. Asia, vii. pi. 8 (1868). 

 Malacortyx super ciliaris^ Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 313. 



Adult Male. — Middle of crown and nape brownish-grey, with 

 black shaft-stripes ; sides of crown black ; forehead and a wide 

 band down each side of the crown white ; sides of the head, 

 chin, and throat black, with a white band on each side of the 

 latter ; rest of upper- and under- parts grey, the former washed 

 w'ith olive-brown, and all the feathers edged with black; under 

 tail-coverts black, tipped and spotted with white. Total length, 

 9 inches; wing, 3*5 ; tail, 3 ; tarsus, i. 



Adult Female. — Upper-parts brown, most of the feathers with 

 black shaft-stripes or blotches ; a black band on each side of 

 the crown ; eyebrow-stripes and sides of the head vinous-grey ; 

 throat whitish ; under-parts similar to the back, but paler and 

 more tawny. Total length, 8*8 inches; wing, 3*5; tail, 27; 

 tarsus, I. 



Range. — North-western India, in the neighbourhood of 

 Masuri and Naini Tal. 



Habits. — This is still one of the least known of all the Indian 

 Game-Birds, the total number of specimens recorded amount- 

 ing to less than a dozen ; and, so far as I am aware, no addi- 

 tional specimens have been obtained since the one shot by 

 Major Carwithen near Naini Tal in 1876. 



There can be little doubt that these birds are merely winter 

 migrants from Tibet, though some occasionally remain till the 

 beginning of summer. They rarely leave the cover of thick 

 grass-jungle and brushwood, and cannot be flushed without 



