156 NOTES. 



The deepest colored and most spotted birds -are all from 

 Sikhim and Nepal. The palest from the hills to the north of 

 Mussouri, and the upper parts of the Bhagiruttee Valley. 



I have not yet met with one Sikhim or Eastern Nepal speci- 

 men, with really rufous ear-coverts, but these are common 

 amongst Kumaon and Gurhwal birds, and seem to be universal 

 in Khasia Hill specimens. 



At the same time these different forms are all so completely 

 united by intermediate ones, that it is quite impossible to make 

 a second species out of any of them. 



As far AS I CAN make out, Mr. Gray is correct in assigning 

 names to our Bush Quails differently to Jerdon. 



There are two clearly distinct species — the Jungle Bush Quail 

 and the Rock Bush Quail. It may be useful to republish here 

 from the Rough Draft of Nests and Eggs, (now out of print), 

 the main points of distinction between these two species. 



u The adults of both sexes (and I believe most of the young 

 also) may be distinguished at a glance by two characters. 



" 1st. — The bright chestnut hue of the chin and throat of the 

 Jungle Bush Quail, which contrasts equally strongly with the 

 white black-barred lower surface of the male and the dull 

 rufous of the same parts in the female. In the Rock Bush 

 Quail, the chin and throat are dull rufous, the chin often being, 

 especially in the females, whitish, and in these latter the throat 

 is unicolorous with the breast. It is difficult to represent 

 colors accurately in words, but bright chestnut and dull rufous 

 (slightly suffused in many specimens with a grey shade) are so- 

 different that this coloration of chin and throat ought alone 

 to suffice to distinguish adults, at any rate, of the two species. 



" 2nd. — The long, well-marked yellowish white superciliary 

 stripe which, in the Jungle Bush Quail, begins in males at the 

 nostrils, and in females a little further back, and in both runs 

 over the eyes and ear-coverts right down to the nape, averaging 

 in males 1*15 and in females 0'9 in length. In the Rock Bush 

 Quail the supercilium is by no means well marked, very 

 narrow, and only just extends to the ear-coverts ; in many 

 specimens it is scarcely traceable. Moreover, the supercilium, 

 such as it is, in the Rock Bush Quail is immediately above the 

 eye and ear-coverts, whereas in the Jungle Bush Quail the long 

 supercilium is separated from both eyes and ear-coverts by a 

 narrow band of the same rich chestnut as the throat. 



ie Besides these differences there is in the males of the Jungle 

 Bush Quail a well-marked yellowish white rictal stripe running 

 under the eye and ear-coverts, while in the Rock Bush Quail 

 there is only a faint trace of a pale line. 



