386 Mr. A. L. Butler on the 



.283. Turnix lepurana (Smith). 



Colonel Blewitt told me that a little Button- Quail was 

 very abundant at Fashoda at the commencement of the 

 rains, and that he had onee shot as many as thirty couple 

 there in one morning. I think that this must be the species. 



284. Ortyxelus meiffreni (Vieill.). 



a. J . Near El Obeid, March 24, 1904. 



I first met with this most curious little Quail in May 

 ]903 on the plateaux on each side of the Setit River, near 

 the Abyssinian frontier, a locality from which it has not, 

 I think, been previously recorded. I only saw it there, 

 however, on three occasions. 



In Kordofan it seemed tolerably abundant (March and 

 April 1904) round El Obeid, thence past Jebel Abu Sinun 

 to the Mazrub Wells, and in the waterless country west and 

 south of them, where I came across it daily when looking for 

 Oryx leucoryx, sometimes seeing a score or more in a 

 morning's ramble. The birds were almost always in pairs, 

 but did not appear to be breeding at the time. Dissection 

 of the single male bird shot gave me the impression that they 

 would have been nesting shortly. They probably lay their 

 eggs at the commencement of the rains in May and June. 



The country frequented by Ortyxelus is principally of red 

 sand thinly studded with acacias, and everywhere covered 

 with the detestable burr-bearing grass called by the Arabs 

 "heskanit" (Cenchrus catharticus) . A small thistle-like 

 Blepharis (B. linarifolia) is also very abundant. The 

 habits of the bird are most interesting. On the ground 

 it appears to be a Turnix pure and simple, always con- 

 cealing itself in grass-cover, through which it threads its 

 way very rapidly, running in a crouching attitude. When 

 hard pressed it crouches until almost trodden on, but 

 as it rises all resemblance to a Quail ends. Springing up 

 with none of the "whirr" that characterizes even the 

 smallest game-birds, it flies in jerky undulations, often 

 rising to a considerable height, and sometimes going a 

 long distance before settling again — to all appearance a 



