HEMIPODIUS LEPURANA, 



and behind with one row ; toes short ; claws slender, and slightly curved. The 

 thighs closely covered with feathers to the knee-joints. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Inches. Lines. 

 Length from the point of the Ijill to 



the tip of the tail 5 



of the bill to the gape 9 



of the wings when folded 3 



ofthetail 1 9 



Inches. Lines. 



Length of the tarsus 10 



middle toe 3 



outer toe -i 



inner toe 2f 



Female. — The crown of the head sparingly speckled with white dots, other- 

 wise as in the male ; the back of the neck is pale cinnamon-brown, the feathers 

 edged with white ; back a pale fawn coloui", each feather crossed by several 

 black bars, and each bar with a more or less distinct angular projection at 

 the shaft of the feather, both before and behind, or simply behind ; secondary 

 wing coverts pale cream-yellow, each, with an oblong deep brown spoton its 

 outer vane, and a large irregular chesnut blotch on the inner one, continuous 

 with the brown spot. Primary and secondary quill feathers brown, the two outer- 

 most primaries broadly margined with cream-yellow, the rest of the primaries 

 and the ^secondaries delicately edged with pale rufous ; the tertiaries pale 

 chesnut, barred with black, and here and there variegated besides with small 

 and irregularly shaped white spots or stripes ; the middle of the breast as in 

 the male, but the sides, instead of being marked with angular spots, have 

 them of an ovate form, and placed longitudinally upon the feathers. 



Only a very few specimens of this Quail were obtained, and these not until after the expe- 

 dition had reached the country north of Latakoo. The grassy valleys south-east of Kurichane 

 were the only localities in which they were discovered, and even in those they appeared to be 

 very thinly scattered, for seldom was more than a single individual found in, or even near the 

 same place. When they were disturbed, they seldom flew far before alighting, though 

 after effecting that, it would appear they continued retreating, as none of those we succeeded 

 in getting a second time on the wing, were ever found near the situations where they were 

 observed to alight. The food of this species consists of seeds and small insects, and along 

 with these they likewise swallow a considerable quantity of fine gravel. 



In the Museum of the Army Medical Department, at Fort Pitt, Chatham, there are the 

 male and female of an Indian species of Hemipodius, very closely resembling those we have 

 here described. They differ, however, in so many minor points, that we feel disposed to re- 

 gard them as belonging to a distinct species : — besides being rather smaller, the back of 

 each is marked after a different fashion, and the spots on the sides of the breast, in the female, 

 are ovate, and placed transversely, while in ours they are disposed along the middle of the 

 feathers. In the catalogue of the Fort Pitt collection, we have named the Asiatic species 

 Hemipodius Sykesii, in honour of Colonel Sykes, who has added so much to our knowledge of 

 the Zoology of India. 



