548 PHASIANIN/E. 



1210. GallOperdiX lunulatUS (Valenc^, Jerd., B. Ltd. Hi. 

 p. 543, No. 815 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs Lid. B. p. 533 ; Str. F. ii. pp. 427, 

 458, 532 ; Hume and Marsh. , Game Birds i. p. 255, pi. ; Elliot, Man. Pkas. 

 ii.pl. 34 (?) Francolinus nivosus, Deless., Voy.Aux.Indes. pi. IO. Perdix 

 Hardwickii (Gray), Hardiu., III. Ind. Zool. i. pi. 52; Jerd., III. Ind. 

 Zool. i. pi. 52; Jerd., Ind. Orn. pi. 42 (the female). The PAINTED SPUR 

 FOWL. 



Crown, lores, nape, cheeks, chin and throat variegated with streaks 

 and spots of black and white ; upper breast black with triangular white or 

 buffish white spots ; back, rump, upper tail coverts and wing coverts rich 

 chestnut, the back and wing coverts with a spot of white encircled by black 

 on each feather, and the lower back and rump with black edges to the feathers ; 

 lower breast and abdomen ochreous buff, the feathers edged with black and 

 with a triangular black spot ; thigh coverts, flanks, and under tail coverts dull 

 chestnut, the feathers edged with black and with a white spot on each feather ; 

 primaries earthy brown, margined with chestnut, secondaries the same ; tail 

 dark sepia brown, in adults glossed with green. The female has the top of 

 the head dusky j the forehead, superciliary region and nape tinged very slightly 

 with chestnut ; moustachial streak buffish, edged with dark brown ; upper and 

 under plumage olivaceous brown, except the breast and abdomen, which are 

 ochreous with blackish lunulated margins. Bill blackish ; orbits red ; irides 

 red brown ; legs horny brown ; legs and feet plumbeous. 



Length. 12-5 to 13-6; wing 5-85 to 6'2 ; tail 4-3 to 5 ; tarsus 1*5 to 1*65 ; 

 bill from gape 0*8 to 0'9. Females are smaller. The males have from one 

 to three spurs on each leg, generally two on each, often two on one and three 

 on the other. The females also generally have at least one spur on each leg, 

 sometimes two, rarely none at all. 



Hal. Southern India south of the Neilgherries, the Eastern Ghauts and 

 the high broken country connected with these into Cuttack, the Tributary 

 Mehals, Raipoor, Bhundara, Mirzapoor and Monghyr hills. On the other 

 hand, at Goomsoor, in the north of the Ganjam districts, spadiceus only occurs. 

 The distribution of this and spadiceus, Hume says, is as yet very imperfectly 

 understood and difficult to disentangle. This species is especially partial to low 

 rocky hills covered with impenetrable thickets. They are found either singly 

 or in pairs, and generally met with in the morning and evening, when they 

 descend to the more open spaces to feed. It breeds in suitable localities in the 

 eastern two-thirds of the Peninsula of India, south of the Neigherries, during 

 March, April, and May, making only a slight excavation in the ground for the 

 eggs under the shelter of a boulder or rock in a thicket. The eggs are 

 rather regular ovals, whitish buff in colour, and somewhat more elongated than 

 the typical fowl's egg. Gall&perdfx zcyloncnsis, which Hume figures in his 

 Game Birds of India, is peculiar to Ceylon. 



