COTURNICIN.E. 315 



and some faint cross lines of the same ; primaries brown, the 

 outer webs barred with dark rufous ; tail brown with black spots, 

 and barred with narrow pale yellow lines ; beneath, the chin 

 is pure white, bordered by black ; the rest of the lower parts are 

 rufous, passing into olive-brown on the sides of the neck, and 

 with a few spots of black on the breast, increasing in size on the 

 sides of the neck and breast ; feathers of the flanks with large spots 

 of deep black tipped with white. 



The female differs in having the chin, supercilium, forehead, 

 and face rufous in place of white, and the head is brown instead 

 of being black. 



The Painted Bush Quail is a common and permanent resident 

 all along the Sahyadri Range, and several other portions of the 

 Deccaii ; it does not occur in Sind, Guzerat, or Rajputana. 

 Its mode of nidification does not differ from that of the other 

 Bush Quails. 



SUB-FAMILY, Coturnicinse. 



Wings pointed, long ; bill moderate ; tarsi not spurred ; of 

 small size. Sexes differ somewhat in coloration. 



GENUS, Coturnix, Brisson. 



Bill somewhat slender, straight or slightly curved ; tarsi with- 

 out spurs ; tail very short, rounded and soft, concealed by the 

 upper tail -co verts ; wings lengthened and pointed, the first and 

 second quills longest. 



Coturnix communis, Bonn. 



829. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. 11, p. 586; Butler, Guzerat; 



Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 7 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 



IX, p. 423; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 215; / 



Game Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 133 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, ' 



Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 131. 



THE LARGE GREY QUAIL. 



Length, 7'1 to 8-82 ; expanse, 13'0 to 147; wing, 4 -0 to 4'55; 

 tail, 1-6 to 2-25; tarsus, 0'9 to T15; bill from gape, 0'6 to 073; 

 weight, 3'2 to 4*62 oz. 



Bill very variable, in color blackish, dusky horny-brown, dull 

 pale bluish, &c. ; irides brown ; legs and feet pale fleshy. 



Male, head brown, with pale edgings to the feathers, and a 

 central pale line ; eye-brows, cheeks, and lores whitish, with the 

 ear-coverts partially brown ; the upper plumage brown, each 

 feather of the back, scapulars, rump and tail having on one side 

 of the pale yellow shaft, a fine black patch, and some pale cross 

 striae ; wing-coverts greyish-brown, with narrow streaks and 

 bars of the pale yellowish, black bordered ; primaries dark-brown, 

 with pale rufous spots and bars on the outer webs; beneath, 

 the chin is dull white ; the throat rufous-brown with a double 

 blackish or brown band or collar, separated by some yellowisn- 



