416 GAME-BIRDS. 



middle, while in the Japanese species the throat is uniformly dull brick-red. The 

 females may be distinguished by the former having the white feathers covering the 

 throat short and rounded, while in the latter they are elongate and pointed, forming 

 quite a beard. In South Africa a race of the common quail (C. capensis) occurs, 

 in typical examples of which the males have the sides of the head, as well as the 

 chin and throat, bright rufous - chestnut, and the black anchor - shaped mark 

 characteristic of the migratory species well developed. The common quail inter- 

 breeds freely with these birds, and the results are seen in many of the males, 

 having the chin and throat partially chestnut. Another Australian quail (Synoecus 

 australis) has no anchor-shaped mark on the throat, and the under-parts marked 

 with Y-shaped black bars ; an allied species with the under-parts dull rufous in- 

 habiting Timor and Flores. The last genus includes the smallest and most beauti- 

 fully marked birds of the group ; the tail being very short, hidden by the upper 

 tail-coverts, and with only eight feathers. The common painted quail (Excalfa- 

 toria chinensis) inhabits the Indo-Chinese countries, especially the lower hills 

 where the ground is swampy and grass-covered. The male has the upper-parts 

 brown, barred and marked with black, and ornamented with whitish shaft-stripes ; 

 the forehead, sides of the head and neck, and wing-coverts are washed with slaty 

 blue, the chest and flanks slaty blue, and the rest of the under-parts rich chest- 

 nut. In very old birds the chestnut takes the place of the slate, till very little of 

 the latter remains on the under-parts. 



Bamboo We have now to turn our attention to that group of the family 



Partridges. w ith a monal type of wing, that is to say with the first flight-feather 

 shorter than the tenth. As already noted, the true pheasants are the only excep- 

 tion in this respect, but although the shape of their wings is partridge-like, their 

 long tails at once serve to distinguish them. Little need be said of the African 

 rufous-breasted partridge (Ptilopachys), ranging from Senegambia and the Gold 

 Coast to Abyssinia, and inhabiting broken ground and stony hillsides. The plumage 

 of both sexes is similar, and the male is never armed with spurs; though 

 these appendages are sometimes developed even in the females of the bamboo- 

 partridges. Here the sexes of the three species have the plumage alike ; and in 

 general appearance they recall the male of the common partridge, this being 

 especially the case with the Chinese species (Bambusicola thoracicus), in which the 

 sides of the head, throat, and forepart of the neck are chestnut, while the eyebrow- 

 stripe and crop are grey. The nearly allied Formosan B. sonorivox, may be 

 recognised by having the sides of the head dark grey; while Fytch's partridge 

 (B. fytchi) from India, Burma, and China has the eye-stripe buff. The note of this 

 species is loud, harsh, somewhat fowl-like, and different from the low whistle of 

 the tree-partridges. Found in heavy forest jungle, this partridge generally goes 

 in pairs, and is difficult to flush, unless hard pressed. 



The Indian spur-fowl are more pheasant-like, having a rather 

 long tail, and the plumage of the sexes different. The legs in both 

 sexes are armed with spurs, the males having two, and sometimes three, pairs, 

 while the females have one or rarely two, although occasionally two spurs are 

 developed on one leg and one on the other. The three rather large species are 

 peculiar to India and Ceylon ; the male Ceylon spur-fowl being more striking in 



