76 TETRAONID^. 



and upper tail coverts similar, but olive brown instead of chestnut ; tail 

 feathers rich chestnut or deep ferruginous, with a broad subterminal dark 

 brown nearly black band, tipped with pale or yellowish white ; central tail 

 feathers like the back; beneath the chin and throat are v/hite or creamy, 

 encircled from the base of the lower mandible with dark spots, forming a 

 gular patch ; breast and entire lower parts creamy white, or very pale buff, the 

 feathers with transverse dark bars ; lower tail coverts ferruginous. The female 

 is like the male, but paler in colour, and wants the spur. 



Length. — 1 1*5 to 23-5 inches ; wing 5*5 to 6; tail 3*35 to 4 ; legs bright red ; 

 irides brown j the orbital ring with a row of minute white feathers ; bill dusky 

 brown. 



Hah. — Throughout India, Ceylon, Beloochistan and S. Persia, Affects 

 dry, scrubby or bare stony tracts. T3elights among Euphorbia bushes. In the 

 morning they are generally found in fields or on the edges of cultivation, where 

 they pick up seeds and corn^ also insects of all kinds. They afford fair sport 

 with one or tv.'o good men, or a good dog and ones wits against the birds. 

 Breeds from February to May, and from July to November. In Bengal, 

 either in the deltaic district or in the Eastern Provinces, it does not occur, nor 

 in Assam or Burmah. In the Deccan it ascends to 2,500 feet or more ; in the 

 Himalayas and Southern India not above 1,000 feet. Both birds and their 

 eggs are capital eating, especially birds of the year. 



97. Ortygornis gularis {Temm.), Jerd., B. Ind. lii. p. 572, No. 



823 ; Hume, Nesls and Eggs Ind. B. p. 544 ; id. and Marsh., Game, Birds 

 p. 59, pi. Perdix gularis, Hardw., III. Ind. Zool. i. pi. 56, fig. i ; Murray, 

 Avif. Brit. Ind. ii. p. S54, No, 1220, — The Kyah Partridge. 



Crown olive brown ; lores, a streak below the eye and supercilium pale 

 buff ; a line through the eye to the ear coverts dusky brown ; back brown, 

 barred with buff ; wing coverts the same ; primaries brown on the outer web, 

 ferruginous on the inner ; tail ferruginous, central feathers brown ; chin and 

 throat rusty ferruginous ; breast and abdomen brown with broad white streaks 

 edged with black ; under tail coverts ferruginous ; under vving coverts ferru- 

 ginous. Bill blackish ; irides dark brown 3 legs litharge or dull red. 



Letigth. — IS to 15-5 inches; vdng 7-1 to 7-25; tail 4-5 ; tarsus 2-5; bill 

 from gape I'Oi. 



Hah — Bengal from Tirhoot and Goruckpoor to the Sunderbuns, extending 

 eastwards into Assam, Sylhet, Cachar, and Tipperah. In the Western Pro- 

 vinces of Bengal, it is found on the north bank of the Ganges, crossing in a 

 few suitable localities from Monghyr to Rajmahal. It is also found up to 

 the base of the Himalayas and in the Oudh Terai. Jerdon adds that its 

 favourite grounds are thick beds of reeds and long grass, along the banks of 

 rivers, jheels and water-courtes, and especially in those swampy patches of 



