Malayan Ornithology. 3 



same colour, with some of the feathers pale-shafted ; the 

 hackles are black, short, and edged with yellow ; underparts 

 pale rufous-brown ; the feathers of the breast pale-shafted ; 

 length of bird about 15 inches. 



Gallus varius, Shaw. 



In the Botanical Gardens at Singapore there was a speci- 

 men of this handsome Jungle-fowl ; but probably it had been 

 imported. 



ExcALFACTORiA cHiNENsis (Linn.). The Blue-breasted 

 Quail. 



This tiny but most beautifully marked Quail swarms 

 throughout the Malay States, being found in almost every 

 dry paddy-field or tract of scrub and grass-covered ground. 

 It is difficult to flush, not rising until almost trodden on ; 

 then, after skimming over the grass with a Partridge-like 

 flight for fifty or sixty yards, it drops like a stone, and is hard 

 to put up again, even with a dog. 



The sudden way in which they drop to the ground fre- 

 quently deceives the inexperienced sportsman, who, thinking 

 he has made a successful shot, hurries to where the bird 

 apparently fell, and makes a long and fruitless search, while 

 the object of his pursuit is running as hard as it can lay legs 

 to the ground to a distant part of the field. 



They are very good eating, but so small as to be scarcely 

 worth a charge of shot ; and after being a few weeks in the 

 country, and ceasing to look on them as a novelty, one seldom 

 fires at them, confining one's attention to larger game, in the 

 shape of Snipe, Plover, &c. 



The sexes are very unlike in plumage, the male being by far 

 the more handsome and brightly- coloured bird. One shot 

 near Saiyong, Perak, on 24th April, was 5j inches long; 

 irides deep crimson ; legs bright orange; beak black; head 

 and upper parts brown ; feathers of the back pale-shafted, 

 and banded, mostly on one web only, with black ; wings pale 

 brown, some of the coverts edged with rufous and bluish 

 grey ; forehead, cheeks, sides of neck, and breast bright 

 bluish grey ; moustache-streak and broad crescentic mark 



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