TURNICIN^. 317 



" First fine specklings and spottings thickly spread over the 

 whole surface of the egg ; second bold blotchings and frecklings ; 

 third marblings. 



" In color the markings equally vary, blackish, purplish, olive, 

 and burnt sienna, all occur." Game Birds of India. 



They measure 1*1 inches in length by nearly 0'84 in breadth. 



FAMILY, Tinamidse. 



Bill moderate, slender, straight, or slightly curved at tip ; 

 wings moderate or short ; tail short, occasionally none ; the upper 

 tail-coverts lengthened and concealing the tail in many ; tarsi 

 unarmed ; lateral toes short, hallux small and elevated, or 

 wanting altogether ; claws short and blunt. 



SUB-FAMILY, Turnicinae. 



Of diminutive size. Three toes in one genus ; the hind-toe 

 present in another. 



GENUS, Turnix. 



Bill slender, of moderate length, straight, much compressed, 

 slightly curved at the tip ; nostrils linear ; wings of moderate 

 length, with the first quill longest in some, or the first three 

 gently graduated ; tail feeble, short, concealed by the upper- 

 coverts, of ten or twelve narrow feathers ; tarsus moderate or rather 

 short, separated at the base ; no hind-toe. 



Turnix taigoor, SyJces. 



832. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 595; Butler, Guzerat ; 

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

 IX, p. 424; Game Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 169 ; Swinhoe 

 and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 132. 



THE INDIAN BUSTARD QUAIL. 



Length, 5'44 to 6'6 ; expanse, 1075 to 12'5 ; wing, 2'85 to 

 3'45 ; tail, 0'9 to 1*38 ; tarsus, 0'9 to T2 ; bill from gape, 0'6 to 

 078 ; weight, 1 to 2 oz. 



Bill dark slaty ; irides pale yellow to straw- white ; legs and 

 feet light slaty to plumbeous. 



The females are, as a rule, much the largest. 



The female is rufous above, with transverse black lines on each 

 feather of the back, scapulars and rump, these having also 

 yellowish-white lateral margins, internally edged with black ; 

 the crown of the head rufous, with a series of black and white 

 feathers appearing as white spots, set off with black, along the 

 median line ; another and broader series over each eye ; a third 

 bordering the throat, which, with the middle of the foreneck to 

 the commencement of the breast (together with the more 

 conspicuous feathers of the wings), is fulvous-white, with toler- 

 ably broad black cross-bars ; below the breast, light but bright 

 ferruginous. 



