FEA.NCOLIXUS. 141 



from February to May or June, but many pairs lay a second time 

 between September and November ; the eggs, six to nine in 

 number, are spotless white, tinged with pale brownish, measure 

 about 1'3 by 1*03, and are laid in a hollow in the ground, generally 

 situated beside a bush or tuft of grass, and as a rule more or less 

 lined with grass. 



This bird is often kept in cages by natives of India, either on 

 account of its call, or, by Mahommedans especially, for fighting 

 purposes. The cocks are very pugnacious, and the methods of 

 capturing them are due to this circumstance, a tame cock being 

 placed out as a decoy, often in a cage, and the wild birds captured in 

 nooses or a net when they approach to fight it. 



1376. Francolinus gularis. The Kyali or Swamp-Partridye. 



Perdix gularis, Temm. Pig. et Gall, iii, pp. 401, 731 (1815) ; Gray in 

 Hardw. 111. Ind. ZooJ. i, pi. 56, fig. 1 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 251. 



Francolinus gularis, G. _R. Gray, List Sp. B. iii, p. 34 ; Oyilvie 

 Grant, Ibis, 1892, p. 46 ; id. Cat. 13. M. xxii, p. 158. 



Ortygornis gularis, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 572 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. 

 xxxix, pt. 2, p. 273 ; xlv. pt. 2, p. 83 ; Hume # Marsh. Game B. 

 ii, p. 59, pi.; Hume, Cat. no. 823; Hume fy Inglis, S. F. ix, 

 p. 258 ; Hume 8f Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 305 ; Gates in Hume's N. 

 Sf E. iii, p. 437. 



Kyah, Khyr, Kaijah, Beng. ; Koi, Koera, Assam ; Bhil-titar, Cachar. 



Coloration. Crown and nape brown ; superciliary stripe and a 

 broader baud below the eye and ear-coverts whitish buff; a brown 

 band through the eye including the ear-coverts ; upper parts 

 brown, more rufous in patches, marked throughout with transverse 

 black-edged buff bars ; scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts with 

 whitish shafts ; primaries brown, passing into chestnut towards 

 the base ; secondaries the same, but the inner quills becoming 

 barred with buff like the upper parts ; middle tail-feathers 

 brownish, mottled with black, and with traces of buff cross-bauds, 

 outer tail-feathers dull brownish chestnut with pale tips ; chin, 

 throat, and fore neck ferruginous red ; rest of lower parts brown 

 with broad white streaks or dashes, edged with black, and increas- 

 ing in breadth behind, occupying the middle of each feather ; lower 

 tail-coverts pale rufous, feathers around vent still paler. Sexes 

 alike, but the male is distinguished by having a spur on each 

 tarsus. 



Bill blackish ; irides brown ; legs dull red (Jerdon}. 



Length about 15 ; tail 4-25 ; wing 7'25 ; tarsus 2-25 ; bill from 

 gape 1. Females are rather less. 



Distribution. The alluvial plain of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, 

 from the extremity of Assam and Cachar to the ]N.W. Provinces 

 (Pilibhit), but not in the Sundarbans. Godwin-Austen notices the 

 occasional occurrence of this Partridge on the Khasi plateau. 



Habits, $c. The Kyah is found in high-grass jungle and cane 

 brakes, chiefly near the edges of rivers and j heels, and may be met 



