OPHRYSIA. 105 



shorter than the middle toe and claw ; the bill is stout. The tail 

 contains 10 feathers, and is well developed, much rounded, and 

 not much shorter than the wing ; the 1st primary is shorter than 

 the 10th ; 5th or 6th longest. On the whole this bird conies 

 as naturally as anywhere where Grant has placed it, with the Spur- 

 fowls and Blood Pheasants, being neither partridge, quail, nor 

 pheasant. 



1348. Ophrysia superciliosa. The Mountain Quail. 



Rollulus superciliosus, Gray, Knowsl. Menag., Aves, pi. xvi (1846). 

 Ophrysia superciliosa, Bonap. C. R. xliii, p. 414 ; Hume, 8. F. vii, 



p. 434 ; id. Cat. no. 827 bis ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 105, 



pi. j Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 266. 

 Malacortyx'superciliaris, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 313. 



Coloration. Male. Forehead and broad superciliary stripe white; 

 sides of head, chin and throat, and a band above each white 

 supercilium black, with a silky-white spot in front of the eye and 

 another behind it, and a whitish band, more or less broken and 

 sometimes indistinct, running back from beneath the eye ; crown 

 pale brownish grey with black shaft-stripes ; nearly the whole 

 upper and lower plumage dark brownish grey with black lateral 

 margins to the feathers ; lower tail-coverts black, tipped and 

 spotted on both webs with w^hite ; quills and tail-feathers uniform, 

 brown. 



Younger males have buff mottling on the wings. 



Females are cinnamon-brown throughout, the sides of the head 

 with a greyish tinge, a small white speck before and a larger one 

 behind the eye ; chin and throat whitish ; some of the crown- and 

 all the nape-feathers with black shaft-stripes that pass into trian- 

 gular black spots bordered with buff on the back, scapulars, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts : wing-coverts, lower back, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts much mottled with buff ; quills brown mottled with buff, 

 especially on the outer webs ; tail-feathers black, mottled with buff 

 towards the edges, and with buff cross-bars near the shafts : breast, 

 abdomen, and lower tail-coverts paler than the upper parts, with 

 lanceolate black spots. 



Bill coral-red in the male, dusky red in the female : legs dull red 

 (Huttori). 



Length about 10 ; tail 3 ; wing 3'5 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from 

 gape -6. 



Distribution fy Halits. All that is known of this bird is that a 

 few specimens were shot in 1865, 1867, and 1868 close to Mus- 

 sooree, between 5000 and 6000 feet above the sea, and in 1876 a 

 single specimen was shot, and another seen, close to Nairn Tal. 

 The bird is extremely rare, and appears to be an occasional visitor 

 to the North-west Himalayas. Whence it comes is unknown. 

 The long soft plumage may indicate an inhabitant of a cold climate. 

 Nothing was known as to the origin of the type in the Knowsley 

 Menagerie, except that it was believed to be from India. 



