PERDICULA. 117 



size and by having no pale cross-bars on the primary quills. The 

 male may be recognized by having the dark marks on the face and 

 throat blacker, and by having broad median black stripes on the 

 feathers of the breast and flanks, the amount of black on the 

 breast increasing with age till, in old birds, nearly the whole breast 

 is black, and there is even in less aged individuals a large black patch 

 in the middle. The sides of the lower neck and upper breast are 

 chiefly or wholly rufous-buff with a vinous tinge. 



Bill in the male bluish black to dusky, in the female brownish 

 horny ; irides clear to dark brown ; legs pale Heshy (Hume}. 



Length about 7; tail 1-25; wing 3'5 ; tarsus 1; bill from 

 gape -5. 



Distribution. A. resident or partially migratory bird, found 

 throughout the greater part of India and in the Irrawaddy valley 

 in Burma. It has not been recorded from other parts of Burma, 

 but it has been found in Manipur, in Assam near Dibrugarh, in 

 Sylhet, and around Chittagong; so it doubtless occurs throughout 

 the countries between India and Burma in suitable places. It has 

 not been observed in Ceylon nor in the extreme south of India, 

 but with this exception it is met with at times in open grassy 

 or cultivated ground throughout India up to the lower ranges 

 of the Himalayas. It is common in Sind in the summer, but is 

 not known to visit the Western or .North-western Punjab. It 

 is not known to occur outside the empire. 



Habits, &fc. This, like the Grey Quail, is rarely, ir ever, met 

 with in forest ; it keeps much to grass of no great height and to 

 growing crops. Although resident in many parts of India, it 

 shifts its ground with the seasons, and it only visits Northern 

 Bengal, Oudh, Behar, the N.W. Provinces, the Punjab, and Sind 

 in the monsoon. It is found in pairs from April to October, 

 singly during the rest of the year. Its call is very different from 

 that of the Grey Quail, being dissyllabic only. It breeds about June 

 or July in Northern India, from August to October in the Deccan, 

 and lays from 4 to 9 eggs, yellowish white to dark brownish buff in 

 colour, much speckled with brown, and measuring about 1*09 by *83. 

 The eggs are laid in a hollow on the ground, without any nest. 



Genus PERDICULA, Hodgson, 1837. 



The present generic type is peculiar to the Indian Peninsula, 

 and comprises two species that resemble Quails in size, but differ 

 widely from them, and, to some extent, agree better with Partridges 

 in structure and habits. The sexes are very different in plumage. 

 The bill is short and thick, and the culmen very convex. The 4th 

 primary is the longest, the first being intermediate in length 

 between the 7th and 9th. The tail consists of 12 feathers, and is 

 about half as long as the wing. The tarsus is about as long as the 

 middle toe and claw, and is armed in males with a blunt tubercular 

 spur. 



