RAIL-TRIBE. 445 



position open. Like the sand-grouse and rails, they lay double-spotted eggs, quite 

 different from those laid by any of the true game-birds ; but the young are similarly 

 covered with down, and able to run soon after they are hatched. Among the most 

 singular features of this group it may be noticed that the females are alwaj^s 

 larger and more brightly coloured than the males ; while the latter undertake all 

 the cares of incubating the eggs and tending the young. In the typical genus 

 (Turnix), which contains all the forms but one, the first toe is entirely absent, but 

 in the Australian collared hemipode (Pedionomus torquatus) a small first toe is 

 present. The twenty-one members of the typical genus are distributed over Africa, 

 Madagascar, and Arabia, and also range through the Indo-Malayan countries to 

 Australia ; while one species, the Andalusian hemipode (T. sylvatica), inhabiis 

 South Europe. No less than four of these species are found in India, and as their 

 habits have been more studied than elsewhere, we may take the Indian bustard- 

 quail {T. taigur) as typical of the group. This bird, besides being found all over 

 India, has a wide range throughout Burma, the Malay Peninsula, Siam, and South 

 China to Formosa and the Liu-kiu Islands. As might be expected, the plumage 

 of so widely-spread a species shows considerable climatic variation, examples from 

 the dry plains of India having the prevailing colour of the upper-parts rufous; 

 whereas in specimens from the Malay Peninsula, with its heavy rainfall, the general 

 tone is greyish brown. In both sexes the upper-parts are barred and marked with 

 black, many of the feathers being margined on the sides with whitish buff; while 

 the chest and breast are buff barred with black, and the under-parts rusty buff. 

 The female, besides being much larger, has the middle of the throat and chest deep 

 black, while in the male these parts are white with narrow black bars. Mr. Hume 

 writes that " scrub-jungle, intermixed with patches of moderately high grass on 

 dry ground, is perhaps its natural home ; but it may be met with anywhere in low 

 bush-jungle and on the skirts of forests, and in inhabited districts greatly affects 

 gardens, grass-preserves, and similar enclosures. It strays into stubbles and low 

 crops in the mornings and evenings, even remaining in these at times throughout 

 the day, but more generally retreating during the hotter noontide hours to the 

 cover of some thorny bush or patch of grass upon the margins." 



The Rail-Tribe. 



Order Fulicari^. 



This distinct order includes but two families, namely the rails, to which the 

 great bulk of the species belong, and the fin- feet including only a few peculiar 

 forms with grebe-like feet, and no after-shafts to the contour-feathers. Agreeing 

 with the game-birds in the structure of their palate, these birds are most nearly 

 allied to the cranes on the one hand, — an intermediate type being found in the 

 American courlan, while they are also more distantly related through the hemi- 

 podes to the true game-birds. They probably represent one of the older and more 

 generalised types of birds. An interesting point is the large number of species 

 which, from disuse of their wings, have lost the power of flight, several of these 

 having become extinct within the memory of man; while with many others- 



