212 LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY. 



hair nooses set in spots which they are observed to frequent in 

 the early morning. 



" They do not live well in confinement, either killing them- 

 selves by fighting or knocking their brains out by flying up 

 against the top of their aviaries, and if they escape this fate, 

 they are liable to die of some disease." 



Nest. — None ; situation similar to that chosen by the Painted 

 Spur- Fowl. 



Eggs.— Uniform cream-colour. Measurements, i"42 to 1-43 

 by 1 "12 inch. 



THE PHEASANT-QUAIL. GENUS OPIIRYSIA. 



Op/irysia, Bonap. C. R. xliii. p. 414 (1856). 



Type, O. super ciliosa (Gray). 



Tail composed of ten feathers, rather long and wedge-shaped, 

 the outer pair being about two-thirds of the length of the middle 

 pair. 



First flight-feather much shorter than the tenth ; fifth or sixth 

 longest. 



Plumage long and soft, and quite different in the two sexes. 



The feet not provided with spurs in either sex. 



Only one species of this genus is known, a small bird about 

 the size of a Common Quail, but differing entirely from that 

 species and all its group in most of its structural characters. 

 I have no doubt that the nearest allies of this pigmy Phea- 

 sant — for that is really what it is— are the Blood Pheasants 

 (Ithagenes) which follow. The rather stout coral-red bill, dull 

 red feet, the long, soft, rather loose plumage, the shape of the 

 wing, and the rather long tail are all characteristic of the Blood 

 Pheasants, but not of the Quails. Unfortunately the present 

 species is so rare, and so few examples have ever been obtained, 

 that its anatomy has never been examined, but the probability 

 is, that its bones would teach very little, for the skeletons of all 

 the Quails, Partridges, and Pheasants are remarkably alike. 



