COTURNIX. 507 



Male. Top of head brown, with a longitudinal pale stripe on the crown ; 

 supercilium white, extending above and beyond the ear coverts ; a white 

 streak under the eye, followed by a dark brown one, which meets the first 

 dark brown stripe running below the throat, and forming with its fellow on 

 the other side a triangle, from the middle of which to the chin runs a broad 

 throat stripe ; a triangular patch of white on each side of the throat ; there is 

 also on the throat a second dark stripe behind the first, running down to the 

 breast, the interspace between both being white ; breast with a large jet black 

 patch, some of the feathers of the lower part of which are edged with pale 

 buff or white ; sides of the breast dark rufous, the feathers pale shafted, and 

 a few with dark spots on both webs ; flanks and abdomen pale buff and 

 white intermixed, the feathers black shafted ; lower tail coverts and vent 

 rufous ; back, scapulars and upper tail coverts same as in the large grey 

 quail, from which it may be readily distinguished by the absence of rufous 

 bars on the first two primaries, the first primary having a pale outer edge, and 

 by the well-defined lines on the chin and throat, and the patch on the breast, 

 also by its much smaller size. 



Length. 6" 2$ to 7 inches; wing 3-43 to 37; tail I to i'5; irides dark 

 brown ; legs and feet pale fleshy ; bill dusky black. 



Hab. Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Beloochistan, Persian 

 Gulf, Rajputana, N. Guzerat, Kutch, Kattiawar, the Concan, Deccan, Central 

 and parts of South India, also Dacca and Sylhet. Rain Quail visit India 

 during the monsoon months, about the end of July, and remain to breed. 

 The majority breed in the Deccan, Guzerat, Central India and parts of the 

 Central Provinces. In Oudh, Behar and the N.-W. Provinces, only a very 

 limited number remain to breed. July to October are the months in which 

 they breed. The eggs are not unlike those of C. communis. They leave 

 about the end of October or middle of November. 



Gen. Excalfactoria. Bonap. 



General characters similar to those of Coturnix. Wings less pointed and 

 more rounded ; 1st quill shorter than the 2nd; 3rd, 4th and 5th graduating 

 very slightly from the 2nd. 



1238. Excalfactoria chinensis (Linn.), Jerd., B. Ind. \\. p. 591 ; 



Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 553 ; Salvad., Ucc. Born. p. 311 ; Gates, 

 Str. F. iii. p. 345; Wald., Trans. Zool. Soc.ix. p. 224; Blyth, B. Burnt. 

 p. 151 ; David et Oust. Ots. Chine, p. 397; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. 

 p. 447 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. ill; Oates, Str. F. viii. p. 167 ; Hume and 

 Marsh., Game Birds ii. p. 161 pi. ; Bingham, Str. F. x. p. 196; Oates, 

 Str. F. x. p. 236. Tetrao chinensis, Linn., Syst. Nat. I. p. 277. Coturnix 

 chinensis, Legge, B t Ceylon, p. 755. The BLUE-BREASTED QUAIL. 



