KURRICHANE BUTTON - QUAIL. 



TURNIX LEPURANA. 



(Plate 34.) 



Ortygis lejmrana, Smith, Rep. Exped., App. p. 55 (183G). 



Turnix lepurana, Sharpe's ed. Layard Birds of S. Afr., p. 608 (1875-84) ; 

 Nicolls & Eglington, Sportsman in S. Afr., p. 107 (1892) ; Ogilvie- 

 Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxn, p. 539 (1893); Woodward, 

 Natal Birds, p. 166 (1899) ; Reichenow, Vogel Afrikas, i, p. 301 

 (1900-01) ; Sclater, Ann. S. Afr. Mus., m, p. 355 (1905) ; Sclater 

 and Stark, Birds of S. Afr., iv, p. 238 (1906). 



Description. The bird figured is a female, and is larger than the 

 male ; the rusty patch on the chest is very much darker than that 

 of the male. Length of the male about 5| in., of the female 5|. 



The Kurrichane Button-Quail is regarded by Mr. Ogilvie-Grant 

 as a subspecies of Turnix sylvatica of southern Europe and 

 northern Africa, from which it differs by being slightly smaller. 



Local Names. " Reit-Quartel " of the Dutch ; "Mabuaneng " of the 

 Basutos (Murray). 



DiSTEiBTJTiON. This little Hemipode is quite a common summer 

 resident in the Potchefstroom District, and I have found it all 

 through the western Transvaal as far north as Mafeking. " It 

 is widely distributed throughout the whole of South Africa, except 

 perhaps in the western half of Cape Colony. Beyond our limits 

 [i.e., south of the Zambesi River] it extends northwards to the 

 Gold Coast and to North-East Africa and Aden." 



This small bird has a great partiality for mealie fields, and 

 there it runs lil^e a swift rat through the weeds, but I rarely 

 found it in the grassy " vleis " in which the two species of 

 Coturnix {delagorguei and cajoensis) sometimes lie. 



When shooting Cape or Harlequin Quail the Kurrichane 

 Button-Quail is often met with in old mealie-lands, but as a 

 rule it is mistaken for a Quail chick and is not fired at. 



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