BIRDS OF TENASSERIM. 451 



singly. It rises with a sharp whirr, but seldom flies far, drop- 

 ping again after a flight of a few yards. I have seen it 

 running about the roads, in the early morning, picking up 

 seeds. I have never, I think, heard its note. It was not very 

 uncommon about the grassy hills at Malewoon, but I found it 

 very difficult to flush. I saw, but failed to procure, this species 

 about Paphoon. — W. D.] 



There appear to be two distinguishable species of the pugnax 

 type of Bustard Quail, occurring within the limits of the 

 British Indian Empire. 



The one inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, Burma, Eastern 

 Bengal, Assam and the Himalayas, as far west at any rate as 

 Nepal, and the other inhabiting the rest of India Proper. 



The former is clearly plumbipes of Hodgson, the latter taigoor 

 of Sykes. Their exact- limits are as yet, to a certain extent, 

 undefined. I have received both species from Oachar and both 

 from the dry upper portions of Burma near Thayetmyo. 



The two species do not appear to differ materially in size, though 

 individuals of each vary very materially in their dimensions. 

 The markings, too, cannot be relied on to separate the species, 

 because no two specimens of either species are precisely alike, 

 and almost every variation of markings in the one species will 

 be found susceptible of matching in some specimen of the other. 

 Yet in nine cases out of ten a child could separate the specimens 

 of the two species, and having so separated them it would be found 

 that all one lot belong to one geographical area, and all the other 

 to another. 



I have a large series of both species, though nothing like 

 ■what I require ; al] the taigoor are from various localities in the 

 North- West Provinces and Oudh, the Central Provinces and 

 Berar, the Bombay and Madras Presidencies, and Ceylon. From 

 none of these vast provinces have I a single specimen of plumbi- 

 pes, but I have one specimen from Cachar, and two specimens from 

 Thayetmyo, which I am compelled to class as taigoor. On the 

 other hand, I have plumbipes from various localities in the 

 Malay Peninsula, British Burma, Lower and Eastern Bengal, 

 Assam, Sikim, and no specimen of taigoor from any of these 

 localities, except the three above referred to. 



I distinguish these two species at present solely on the one 

 subnoted point ; very probably when a larger series is got to- 

 gether, and the birds are more carefully studied, other constant 

 points of distinction will appear. At present all I can say is, 

 that in plumbipes the prevailing tint of the interscapulary 

 region and back is brown ; in taigoor the prevailing tint of 

 these parts is rufous, and this difference extends more or less to 

 the head and the whole of the upper plumage. 



