I?itroductio7i. 



5 



of the Quails, nor the comphcated pattern 

 of colours which frequently adorns the 

 wing of many of the game birds. The 

 measurements given are sufficient to 

 afford an accurate idea of the size of 

 a bird, and represent average measure- 

 ments. The total length of a bird has 

 frequently been taken from a skin, and 

 may not be accurate, but no better 

 information is available. The weights 

 of the game birds have in almost all 

 instances been taken from Messrs. Hume 

 and Marshall's work. Most of the ver- 

 nacular names are derived from the same 

 source. All dimensions are in inches. 



There is a point about which sportsmen 

 may be inclined to disagree with me, and 

 this is the alteration of name in some 

 of the game birds. I have only done 

 this when absolutely obliged. Many 

 familiar names were conferred by Dr. 

 Jerdon at a time when he had only a 

 limited number of species to deal with. 

 For instance, he treated of only two Hill- 

 Partridges in his work, and he appropriately 

 enough termed one the Black-throated, 

 and the other the Red-throated, Hill-Par- 

 tridge. But now that there are several 

 Partridges of this group with red throats 

 known to inhabit India, and more than 



