338 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



The legs, feet and claws are slaty or leaden blue or plumbeous, the claws 

 often paler; the bill varies through the same shades and is often, not 

 always, tinged brownish on the culmen or even on all but the basal portions 

 of the upper mandible ; the irides are pearly, ashy or dirty white ; eyelids 

 plumbeous grey. (Hume.) 



Length 6 inches, tail 1, wing 3'2, tarsus '9, bill from gape 7. The 

 female is much larger, the wing measuring 3*5 or more. 



I have very strong doubts whether the Indian race T. taigoor can be 

 separated from the present one. I can myself find no character by which 

 they can be separated with certainty. Mr. Hume, however, whose oppor- 

 tunities for observation have been greater than mine, states that in 

 T. plumbipes the prevailing tint of the interscapulary region and back is 

 brown ; in T. taigoor the prevailing tint of these parts is rufous, and this 

 difference extends more or less to the head and the whole upper plumage. 

 This character can hardly be considered a satisfactory one ; but for the 

 present I accept it and keep the two races distinct. 



No definite conclusions with regard to these Quails can be arrived at 

 without the examination of large series ; and having examined only two 

 specimens of the Javan Quail of this type, T. pugnax, I cannot be certain 

 that it is identical with Burmese birds. Lord Walden some years ago 

 asserted that the two were not quite the same, and consequently I prefer 

 to retain the Burmese birds under Mr. Hodgson's name. 



The Malay Bustard Quail is found sparingly over the whole Province 

 and Karennee, chiefly, but not entirely, in the plains and lower hills. It 

 occurs throughout the Indo-Burmese countries, extending into Bengal and 

 along the Himalayas as far as the Jumna river. It is also met with in 

 Siam, Cochin China and the Malay peninsula, and probably also in 

 Sumatra. 



It frequents gardens, land covered with grass and bushes, and roadsides ; 

 goes about singly or in pairs, and is a constant resident. 



I found the nests in Pegu during August and November; they were 

 merely depressions in the ground in gardens near a bush, lined with a little 

 grass and a few leaves ; and the eggs, in every case four in number, were 

 buff thickly speckled with blackish. 



The three Burmese species of Turnix may be distinguished at a glance 

 from the Quails of the genera Coturnix and Excalfactoria by the absence 

 of a hind toe. 



The following characters will further assist in distinguishing these three 

 species. A Quail with a black throat and breast will be female T. plumbipes ; 

 one with the fore neck and breast completely barred across with black will 

 be male T. plumbipes. 



The remaining two species, in both sexes, have the fore neck and centre 

 of the breast immaculate rufous ; and while T. dussumieri is of very small 



