SPUR FOWL 2183 



ing Timor and Flores. The last genus includes the smallest and most beautifully- 

 marked birds of the group; the tail being very short, hidden by the upper 

 tail coverts, and with only eight feathers. The common painted quail (Excalfa- 

 toria chinensis} inhabits the Indo-Chinese countries, especially the lower hills 

 where the ground is swampy and grass covered. The male has the upper parts 

 brown, barred and marked with black, and ornamented with whitish shaft stripes; 

 the forehead, sides of the head and neck, and wing coverts are washed with slaty 

 blue, the chest and flanks slaty blue, and the rest of the under parts rich chestnut. 

 In very old birds the chestnut takes the place of the slate, till very little of the latter 

 remains on the under parts. 



We have now to turn our attention to that group of the family with 

 a monal type of wing, that is to say, with the first flight feather 

 shorter than the tenth. As already noted, the true pheasants are the 

 only exception in this respect, but although the shape of their wings is partridge- 

 like, their long tails at once serve to distinguish them. Little need be said of the 

 African rufous-breasted partridge (Ptilopachys) , ranging from Senegambia and the 

 Gold Coast to Abyssinia, and inhabiting broken ground and stony hillsides. The 

 plumage of both sexes is similar, and the male is never armed with spurs; though 

 these appendages are sometimes developed even in the females of the bamboo 

 partridges. Here the sexes of the three species have the plumage alike; and in 

 general appearance they recall the male of the common partridge, this being espe- 

 cially the case with the Chinese species (Bambusicola thoracicus), in which the sides 

 of the head, throat, and forepart of the neck are chestnut, while the eyebrow stripe 

 and crop are gray. The nearly-allied Formosan B. sonorivox, may be recognized 

 by having the sides of the head dark gray, while Fytch's partridge (B. fytchi] from 

 India, Burma, and China has the eye stripe buff. The note of this species is loud, 

 liarsh, somewhat fowl-like, and different from the low whistle of the tree partridges. 

 Found in heavy forest jungle, this partridge generally goes in pairs, and is difficult 

 to flush, unless hard pressed. 



The Indian spur fowl are more pheasant-like, having a rather long 

 tail, and the plumage of the sexes different. The legs in both sexes 

 are armed with spurs, the males having two, and sometimes three, pairs, while the 

 females have one or rarely two, although occasionally two spurs are developed on 

 one leg and one on the other. The three rather large species are peculiar to India 

 and Ceylon; the male Ceylon spur fowl being more striking in appearance than its 

 Indian allies, having the plumage of the head, neck, back, and under parts black 

 and white, the rest of the upper parts dark chestnut, ornamented on the wing 

 coverts with white black-edged spots, and the quills and tail black. The female 

 has the head blackish, the chin and throat white, and the rest of the plumage 

 chestnut, finely penciled with black. Colonel Legge observes that " the shy habits 

 of this bird would prevent its being detected in most places where it is even abun- 

 dant, were it not for its noisy cries or cackling, so well known to all who have 

 wandered in the Ceylon jungles. It frequents tangled brakes, thickets in damp 

 nalas, forest near rivers, jungle over hillsides, and in fact any kind of cover which 

 will afford it entire concealment. It runs with great speed, and has a knack of 



