140 PIIASIANIDJ?. 



blackish borders ; outer tail-coverts chestnut, shading towards the 

 ends into dark brown, pale-tipped ; chin and throat whitish to 

 rufous buff, surrounded by a broken blackish-brown band; re- 

 mainder of lower parts buff with narrow, rather irregular, 



Fig. 28. Head of F. pondiccrianus. 



transverse bars, that are partly or wholly wanting on the middle 

 of the abdomen, vent, and lower tail-coverts. 



Sexes alike in colour. 



Bill dusky plumbeous ; irides hazel-brown : legs dull red (Jer- 

 don). 



Length of a male about 12*5; tail 3-5; wing 5'5; tarsus 1*6 ; 

 bill from gape '9. Females are rather smaller. The male has 

 a sharp, well-developed spur on the tarsus. 



Distribution. Common throughout India, except in thick forests, 

 and ranging westward through Southern Afghanistan, Baluchistan, 

 and Southern Persia to the Persian Gulf. The eastern limit of 

 this Partridge's range is approximately the eastern border of the 

 hilly country from Midnapur to B-ajmehal and a line thence north- 

 wards to the Himalayas. The species is wanting in Lower Bengal 

 and in all countries to the eastward, and is also unknown in the 

 Malabar coastlands south o Bombay. It is found near the coast 

 in Northern Ceylon, but not in the interior and southern parts of 

 the island. It is seldom found, either in the peninsula or on the 

 Himalayas, much more than 1500 feet above the sea. 



Habits, (${c. The common Grey Partridge of India is most abun- 

 dant in tracts where the country is half cultivated, and patches of 

 bush jungle are interspersed amongst fields and villages. It avoids 

 forests and swampy grounds. It is often found in coveys at the 

 commencement of the cold season, but pairs early. Its call, uttered 

 in the mornings and evenings, is one of the familiar Indian bird- 

 sounds, beginning with two or three single harsh notes, and 

 continuing with a succession of trisyllabic, shrill, ringing cries. It 

 feeds on seeds and insects, arid is probably at times a foul feeder, 

 though, as Jerdon correctly says, it is often unjustly accused. On 

 account of its running habits, it is held in poor account by sports- 

 men, though its flight is very strong and steady. As a bird for 

 the table, it is dry, but if killed early in the cold season, before 

 pairing, it is by no means so deficient in flavour as it has by some 

 writers been represented to be. The principal breeding-season is 



