204 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



(era, Pternistes, and Chcefopus. They are large birJs, sometimes called pheasants, and 

 are very abundant in different portions of the ' Dark Continent.' In habits they resemble 

 the fomnion francolin, prefer running to flying, ami feed during the morning and 

 evening on grain, insects, and bulbs, which last they dig u]i with their powerful bills. 

 The males and old females arc armed with s]>urs on the tai-si, and, when dis^uriicd, the 

 species will frecpiently take refuge in trees, where they also roost. They appear at 

 times to be migratory, caused ])ossibly by the abundance or scarcity of food or water 

 in certain localities. They are very noisy birds, and in one s)iecies, <S'. adspcrsii, the 

 voice can be heard at a great distance, the notes uttered resembling a succession of 

 liysterical laughs. 



A genus of gray partridges, styled Ort'/'jornis, containing but two species, is found 

 in India and Ceylon. They are birds of the lowlands, one of the .species, O. ijularis, 

 liaving been met with as high as four thousand feet, and O. 2>ondicerianus at live 

 thousand feet, which in that land of gigantic ])eaks is but the summit of a hill. The 

 individual of the last-named species was deemed, however, but a straggler, and was 

 evidently above his range. The flesh is said to be hard, dry, and insipid, hardly worth 

 eating, cook it as you m.ay. These species are extremely jjugnacious, and are kept by 

 the natives for fighting, as partridge combats are one of their chief amusements. The 

 O. guhiris, whose trivial name is the swam])-]iartridge, affects, as its name imj)lies, 

 marshy lands and l)anks of rivers, jungle, thickets, and reed-bed.s, but always near water. 

 When flushed, it rises with a loud w hirr, and a shrill cackle, but does not fly far, and 

 if not bagged can only with great ditticulty be forced to take wing again. Tliey arc 

 wary and ditticult of ajiproacli, one of their number being generally posted as a sentinel 

 on the top of a bush, and they keej) together in small parties or in pairs. The males are 

 heavily sjjurred, sonietimcs having two spurs on each leg, and it is stated that everv 

 one examined will be marked with sears from woumls obtained in fighting. The nest 

 is placed on the ground, and the eggs number about five. The 0. pondiceriamts 

 breeds twice a year, laying seven to nine white eggs tinged more or less in depth with 

 a light coffee-color. These birds weigh from nine to twelve ounces and are from 

 eleven to fifteen inches in length. 



A rather curious i)artridge with a very long bill is found in Malacca, Sum.atra, and 

 Borneo, and is known to naturalists as Jihizotlient luuf/irostris. It is about a foot in 

 length, and the bill is as jtowerfiil as that of a peacock. It has the throat, sides of 

 the head, upper part of neck, belly, and flanks rufous yellow ; to]> of head and back 

 chestnut brown with large black spots; lower part of neck anil breast leaden gray; 

 rump and u])])or tail-coverts are rufous, crossed with fine zigzag lines of a darker hue, 

 and in the centre and near the end of each feather is a spot of yellowish ochre. A 

 bare nil skin encircles the eye. The primaries are rufous, barred with brown. The 

 tarsi are arnic.l with short heavy spurs. The female resembles the male, excei)t that 

 her breast is ferruginous instead of gray, and she li.-is no spurs. 



The last genus of the Perdicina9 is 6'a//()/jerrf/.r, consisting of three species; two, 

 G. spndiceiis and G. lemiddtiis, being peculiar to India, and thethinl, G. sei/Ionensis, 

 only found in Ceylon. They are rather ])eculiar birds, resembling in some of their 

 characters the true jungle-fowl of the genus Gtdliis, having nude skin around the 

 eyes, but without comb or wattles. The sexes are dissimilar, and both are armed with 

 spurs, the male sometimes having as many .as three on one leg, occasionally two on 

 one leg and one on the other, the female also at times possessing the same number of 

 weajjons. They dwell entirely in woods, and in localities affording dense cover, such 



