— 
CEYLON PIGEONS AND GAME BIRDS. 377 
FRANCOLINUS PONDICERTANUS (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 139). 
ORTYGORNIS PONDICERIANUS (Legge, p. 748). 
The Gray Partridge. 
Description.—The sexes are alike. The crown and nape 
olive-brown ; forehead rufous ; a broad eyebrow, with the 
cheeks and throat paler rufous, the lores speckled with 
black ; hind-neck, back, scapulars, and wing coverts grayish- 
brown, splashed with chestnut and chequered by cross-bars of 
buffy-white, with narrow black edges and white shafts ; wing 
quills brown, at times with whitish spots on the outer webs ; 
secondaries barred with pale buff; the upper tail coverts 
and the two central tail feathers marked like the back, but 
without any chestnut ; the remaining tail feathers chestnut, 
deepening towards the end to nearly black, but with pale tips ; 
a patch on the chin and throat is rufous-buff or whitish 
bordered by a broken line of deep brown ; remainder of lower 
parts grayish-white, tinged on the breast with rufous and 
crossed by narrow wavy black bars, which fade away on the 
abdomen and tail coverts. 
Bill dusky brown, paler beneath ; iris light hazel ; legs and 
feet dull red. 
Length 12-25 ; wing 5-6; tail 3-3; tarsus 1:7; bill from 
gape *9. Females are slightly smaller. 
Distribution.—Restricted to the dry zone of the north-west 
coast from the Jaffna peninsula to Puttalam, with the adjacent 
islands. It occurs in suitable country throughout most of 
India proper, but is not found in lower Bengal or eastwards 
thereof, and is unknown on the Malabar Coast, south of 
Bombay. It extends westwards to the Persian Gulf. 
Habits —It is found in open grotind dotted with scrub 
jungle, but never very far from cover. It is a strong runner 
and often rather difficult to flush. The noisy callis constantly 
uttered in the early morning and again in the evening. It is 
said to breed in August and again in December. The nest isa 
small hollow under a bush or grass tuft. The eggs vary in 
number from six to eight or nine ; they are of the usual 
. partridge type, pale buff in colour, and measuring about 
L+3 by 1°03. 
