314 PERDICIN^E; 



permanent resident and breeds from August to November, 

 making a loose nest, generally in a slight depression on the ground 

 sheltered by a low bush or tuft of coarse grass. The eggs, six or 

 seven in number, are moderately broad ovals in shape, pointed 

 towards one end ; they are white, tinged with excessively pale cafe- 

 au-lait color. They measure 1'02 inches in length by about 0*84 

 inches in breadth. 



The following remarks by Mr. Hume will aid in discriminating 

 this species from the preceding: 



" The adults of both sexes (and, I believe, most of the young 

 also) may be distinguished at a glance by two characters. 



" The bright chesnut hue of the chin and throat of the Jungle 

 Bush Quail, which contrasts equally strongly with the white, 

 black-barred, lower surface of the male, and the dull rufous of the 

 same parts in the female. In the Rock Bush Quail, the chin 

 and throat are dull rufous, the chin often being, especially in the 

 females, whitish, and in these latter the throat is unicolorous with 

 the breast. 



" The long well marked yellowish-white superciliary stripe 

 which, in the Jungle Bush Quail, begins in males at the 

 nostrils, and in females a little further back, and in both 

 runs over the eyes and ear-coverts right down to the nape, 

 averaging in males T15, and in females 0'9 in length. In the 

 Kock Bush Quail the supercilium is by no means well marked, 

 very narrow, and just extends to the ear-coverts ; in many speci- 

 mens it is scarcely traceable. Moreover, the supercilium, such 

 as it is, in the Rock Bush Quail, is immediately above the eye 

 and ear-coverts ; whereas in the Jungle Bush Quail, the long 

 supercilium is separated from both eyes and ear-coverts by a 

 narrow band of the same rich chesnut as the throat." 



GENUS, Microperdix, Gould. 



Bill red and more slender than in Perdicula, and the male 

 wants the tarsal tubercle, otherwise as in Perdicula. 



Microperdix erythrorhynchus, Sykes. 



828. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 584 ; Butler, Deccan ; 



Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 423 ; Game Birds of India, Vol. 



II, p. 123. 



THE PAINTED BUSH QUAIL. 



Length, 6'6 to 7'5; expanse, 10 to 11 '3 ; wing, 3 to 3*5 ; tail, 

 1-5 to 2 ; tarsus, 0'97 to 11 ; bill from gape, 0'6 to 07 ; weight, 

 2 to 3 T ] 6 oz. 



Bill red; irides brown or yellowish-brown; legs and feet 

 red. 



Male, forehead, lores and crown of head, black ; a white frontal 

 band continued as a supercilium over each eye ; upper plumage 

 rich olive-brown, with black lunules ; scapulars, wing-coverts and 

 secondaries with large patches of black ; the shaft pale yellow, 



