NOTES ON SOME BURMESE BIRDS. 345 



necting the eyes, pale grey ; the top and back of the head rich 

 hair brown, each feather with a narrow mesial line of black. 

 These lines gradually increase in size, and on the upper side of 

 the neck become large terminal drops, above which are narrow 

 crescentic marks of pale buff, causing the tips of the feathers to 

 present something of the appearance of eyes. The lores, and a 

 very broad supercilium, extending well over the ear-coverts and 

 having a tendency to meet its neighbour at the back of the head, 

 greyish white ; each feather has a central line of black, and these 

 marks, in well preserved specimens, have a tendency to fall into 

 three or four very narrow and somewhat parallel bands, giving 

 the head of the bird a most delicate appearance. 



The shoulders, back, rump and upper tail-coverts glossy 

 olive brown, each feather obsoletely edged darker, and, on the two 

 latter portions of the plumage, with a small central lanceolate 

 spot of black. 



The sides of the body are rich chestnut, each feather with a 

 large pure grey patch in the middle, within which again there 

 is a long and narrow white streak ; the lower part of the 

 abdomen is greyish white ; the flanks and thigh-coverts 

 are very pale buff with large black spots ; under tail-coverts, 

 black at base and white at the tip ; the rectrices are olive 

 brown, mottled and shot with black ; and the outer two or three 

 pairs are faintly tipped with white. 



The primaries are brown, narrowly edged and tipped with 

 pale buff ; the secondaries have a very broad edging on the 

 outer webs and a narrow one at the tip ; the tertiaries, scapu- 

 lars and wing-coverts are an indescribable mixture of rich 

 chestnut, pale fulvous and deep black, the latter colour assuming 

 the form of large transverse Oval spots near the tip of the 

 feather ; the under wing-coverts are dark brown, tipped with 

 dirty white near the edge of the wing, pure white near the 

 body and brownish-grey lower down where the stronger feathers 

 shew out. 



831.— Excalfactoria chinensis, L. 



The Blue-breasted Quail is common in many parts of the 

 Pegu plains. I first met with it in June, and throughout the 

 rains it continues to be common. I am iuclined to think that 

 it comes to Lower Pegu at the beginning of the rains, and leaves 

 as soon as the business of breeding is over, but I am not in a 

 position to state this positively. All I can say is, that I have 

 never seen it in the dry weather. A male in June had the 

 soft parts colored as follows : — Iris, red ; bill, bluish black, 

 rather paler at the gape ; legs, bright yellow ; claws, horn 

 color ; eyelids, plumboous ; inside of mouth, flesh color. 



