THE BROWN-BREASTED HILL-PARTRIDGE. 325 



Genus ARBORICOLA, Hodgs. 



680. ARBORICOLA BRUNNEIPECTUS. 



THE BROWN-BREASTED HILL-PARTRIDGE. 



/ 



Arboricola brunneopectus, Tick., Bl. J. A. S. B. xxiv. p. 276 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 150; 

 Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 443 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. Ill ; Hume fy Marsh. Game 

 Birch, ii. p. 87, pi. ; Bingham, S. F. ix. p. 195 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 236. Arboro- 

 phila brunneipectus, Hume, S. F. ii. p. 449, iii. p. 174 ; Wald. Ibis, 1875, 

 p. 459. 



Description. Male and female. Forehead and a broad supercilmm ex- 

 tending to the nape fawn-colour ; lores, a line above and below the eye, 

 meeting behind and passing over the ear-coverts (expanding and joining 

 the sides of the neck) , the sides of the neck and the whole fore neck black ; 

 chin, throat, cheeks and ear-coverts fawn-colour; crown and nape olive- 

 brown, each feather tipped with black, the spots increasing in size till the 

 hind part of the head is quite black ; the fawn-coloured supercilia join 

 behind this black patch ; back and shorter scapulars olive-brown barred 

 with black ; rump olive-brown with only a few black marks, the feathers 

 tipped darker and barred somewhat lighter; upper tail-coverts the same 

 but with no black spots ; tail olive-brown mottled with black ; primaries 

 brown mottled with rufous at the tips ; secondaries brown edged with pale 

 chestnut ; tertiaries and longer scapulars olive-brown tipped with chest- 

 nut, each feather with a large, black, oval patch near the tip ; coverts 

 rufous olive-brown marked with black in places ; breast tawny brown ; 

 centre of the abdomen and vent whitish ; sides of the abdomen and sides 

 of the body tawny brown, each feather with a large, round, white spot and 

 tipped black; under tail-coverts tawny brown barred with black. 



Bill black ; eyelids, patch behind the eye and skin of the throat red ; 

 iris dark brown ; legs orange or lake-red ; claws orange-colour. 



Length ITS inches, tail 2'4, wing 5*3, tarsus 1*7, bill from gape 1. 

 The female is rather smaller. 



The Brown-breasted Hill-Partridge is met with in the evergreen forests 

 on the eastern spurs of the Pegu hills ; and Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay pro- 

 cured it on the hill-ranges east of Tonghoo. In Tenasserim it is found as 

 far south as Tavoy. It is not known to occur outside the limits of British 

 Burmah. 



This bird and the next are equally common in densely wooded ravines 

 and nullahs ; but I never met with the two species together. They skulk 

 in the dense undergrowth, and would seldom be seen were it not that they 

 frequently come down to the beds of the streams to drink and bathe. It 

 is quite impossible to have any sport with them, as they seldom rise, but, 



