110 PILYSIANID/E. 



of the breast ; lower abdomen and lower tail-coverts blackish brown 

 with white or buff terminal spots. 



Female. Crown blackish brown, forehead and sides of head brown 

 with pale centres to the feathers, chin whitish ; body above and 

 below and outer surface of wings dull chestnut, vermiculated with 

 black except on the breast ; quills and tail as in the male : upper 

 tail-coverts like rump but darker. 



Bill, legs, feet, and naked skin round eyes red ; irides brownish 

 yellow or brownish red (Legc/e}. 



Length of male about 13*5 ; tail 4-5 ; wing 6'5 ; tarsus 2-1 ; 

 bill from gape 1. Females are smaller : \ving t>. 



Distribution. Peculiar to Ceylon, and not found in the dry 

 northern portion of the island. 



Habits, <$fc. Very similar to those of the last two species. This 

 also is a shy bird, rarely seen outside the forest except in the 

 early morning, and generally making its presence known early and 

 late by its cackling call. It breeds, according to Legge, from 

 April to August, and lays usually about four cream-coloured eggs, 

 measuring on an average 1*5 by 1*14. 



Genus BAMBUSICOLA, Gould, 1862. 



The relations of the present genus are not very clear. The only 

 species that occurs within our area approaches Arboricola in 

 coloration, but the structure is very different and resembles that 

 of G alloperdix . The claws are of moderate length and curved ; 

 the tarsus is considerably longer than the middle toe and claw. 

 The tail, of 14 feathers, is more than three-quarters the length of 

 the wing, and is distinctly graduated, the outer feathers being 

 about two-thirds the length of the middle pair. The wing is of 

 the pheasant type and greatly rounded, the 1st primary much 

 shorter than the 10th, 5th usually longest. The males and some- 

 times the females have a spur on each tarsus. Sexes alike. 



Three species are known one from Formosa, one from Southern 

 China, and the third from the hills of Northern Burma and 

 Assam. 



1352. Bamtmsicola fytchii. The Western Bamboo-Partridge, 



Bambusicola fytchii, Anderson, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 214, pi. xi; Blyth t 

 Birds Burm. p. 151 ; Hume, S. F. v, p. 493 ; Anderson, Yunnan 

 JZ.i'ped., Aves, p. 673, pi. liv ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 97, 

 pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 825 quint. ; id. S. F. xi, p. 308 ; Ogilvie 

 Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 257. 



Bambusicola hopkiusoni, Godw.-Avst. P. Z. S. 1874, p. 44 ; id. 

 J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 172 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 399. 



Coloration. Lores arid sides of face, including a broad superciliary 

 band, chin and throat rufous buff ; band from eye beneath the 

 supercilium and including ear-coverts dark rufous brown or in 

 some males black ; crown and 'nape dark rufous brown; hind neck 

 and upper back greyish brown, each feather with a broad median 



