440 



Arboricola intermedia, Blyth. The Arrakan Hill-Partridge. 

 Arboricola intermedius, Blyth, Hume, Cat. no. 825 ter.* 



I obtained a nest of this species containing six egs on the 10th 

 of May at an elevation of about 6000 feet near Machi in the 

 Eastern Manipur Hills. The nest was a pretty large depression 

 at the base of a tuft of grass scantily lined with dry bents. It 

 was in the midst of grass about two feet high which was growing 

 amongst thin scrub-jungle. When the nest was first found the 

 bird rose from the egg within a yard of us, and was snared at the 

 nest about two hours later. 



The eggs are broad ovals conspicuously pointed towards the small 

 end ; the shell is extremely fine, compact and close, and has a fine 

 gloss, at any rate a fair amount of gloss. The colour is pure spot- 

 less white. 



They measure from 1*46 to 1*52 in length, and from 1'13 to 1'19 

 in breadth. 



Perdicula asiatica (Lath.). The Jungle Bush-Quail. 



Perdicula cambayensis (Lath.}, Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 581. 

 Perdicula asiatica (Lath.}, Hume, Cat. no. 826. 



This species appears to lay from September to February. The 

 nest, always placed on the ground under the shelter of some 

 bush or tuft of grass, is of moderate size, circular and shallow, more 

 or less fitted into a corresponding depression of the soil and more or 

 less neatly constructed of grass and roots. Five to seven eggs 

 seem to be the full complement ; in one case a clutch of only four 

 eggs was hard-set. 



Colonel Butler writes : "Six eggs were brought to me on the 19th 

 September, 1880, taken by my nest-seekers about 7 miles west of Bel- 

 gaum, belonging to this species, and two more nests containing four 

 and five fresh eggs respectively were brought to me from the same 

 locality on the 14th October. Subsequently I found a nest myself 

 near the same place containing eggs exactly similar, from which 1 shot 

 the old bird, and another nest of five incubated eggs on the l^rd 

 November. The eggs are very similar to those of P. aryoondah, 

 but slightly larger, and some of them have a few faint reddish- 

 brown specks scattered over the large end. 



" This species is the only Bush-Quail in that locality, so there can 

 be no mistake about the eggs. Mr. J. Davidson sent me an egg he 

 took at Taloda, Khandesh, 14th October the same year." 



Mr. Vidal, writing from the S. Konkan, says : "I found a nest 



* I omit A. torqueola from this edition as Mr. Hume has since pointed out 

 that the eggs which he attributed to this species in the ' Rough Draft' did not 

 belong to it --Ei>. 



