220 



BUFF-BREASTED PARTRIDGE. 



Ptilopachus erytJirorynchus^ SWAINS. 



Brown, speckled with whitish ; middle of the body with a 

 large fulvous white spot ; feathers of the neck and breast 

 rufous in the middle, with a row of whitish spots on each 

 web ; bill red. 



Ptilopachus erythrorynchus, Classif. of Birds, ii. p. 344. 



THERE are some peculiarities of structure in which 

 this bird differs from our common partridge, the 

 type of the genus Perdix, which has induced us to 

 separate it as the representative of a sub-genus. 

 The claws are considerably compressed, and the two 

 lateral toes are very nearly, if not quite, of the same 

 length; the tail also is much developed, and the nos- 

 trils almost occupy one-half the length of the upper 

 mandible. The structure of the feathers on the 

 back and rump are also peculiar, the shafts being 

 thickened in the same way as in the pigeons, and 

 in the corresponding type of Ceblepyris among the 

 shrikes. 



Size intermediate between the quail and Par- 

 tridge. Ground colour of the whole plumage 

 earthen-brown, just as dark on the body as on the 

 back ; this colour is varied by dusky-white spots, in 



