AHBORICOLA.. 123 



later primaries and the secondaries with buff bars on the outer 

 webs ; tail black, with grey bars or mottled ; fore neck ashy grey ; 

 breast and abdomen rufous buff, with black shafts and cross-bars 

 dividing the paler tint into round spots, which are larger behind; 

 under tail-coverts black, tipped and spotted on both webs with white. 



Females have no chestnut on the head, which is grey throughout, 

 the chin and throat albescent ; breast and abdomen paler buff and 

 less rufous than in the male. 



Bill deep horny dusky ; irides reddish brown ; legs dull orange ; 

 soles pale yellow (Hume}. 



Length about 7*5 : tail 2; wing 3-3; tarsus 1-05; bill from 

 gape '57. 



Distribution. This species was found, by Mr. Hume, in small 

 bevies of five or six, inhabiting high grass at the base of the Eastern 

 Manipur hills. The series collected by him contains the only 

 known specimens with one exception, a skin recently received at the 

 British Museum and stated, apparently on good authority, to have 

 been brought from Bhutan. It is probable that this Bush-Quail, 

 which is likely to escape notice, because of its living in elephant 

 grass, occurs in Assam, and it may very possibly also be found in 

 Burma. 



Genus ARBOEJCOLA, Hodgson, 1844. 



The Hill-Partridges of the Himalayas and Burma form a well- 

 marked generic group, easily distinguished by their long and 

 straight claws on the anterior toes, by want of spurs on the tarsus, 



Fig. 25. Foot of A. torqueola. \. 



which is about equal in length to the middle toe and claw, by 

 their short, rather soft and slightly rounded tail of 14 feathers, 

 less than half as long as the wing, and by their rounded wings, 

 the 3rd, 4th, and 5th primaries being generally longest, and the 

 1st about equal to the 84;h, 9th, or 10th. The sexes are similar as 

 a rule, but differ in A. torqueola. 



A remarkable peculiarity of this genus, first noticed by Mr. J. 

 Wood-Mason ( J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 254, pi. ii), is the presence 

 of a row of superorbital bones, extending from the lachrymal to 

 the postorbital process. No similar bones are known in other 



