^t^k 



JOURNAL 



OF THE 



Bombay Natural History Society. 



July, 1920. 



Vol. XXVII. 



No. 1. 



THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 



BY 



E. C. Stuart Baker, F.L.S., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U 



■^ SEP 7 1927 <^ 



Part XXIX. 



With a Coloured Plate. 



(Continued from jmcje 906 of Vohime XXV T::^!^!:^,^ ^^^ 



Genus— GALLOPERDIX. ^ 



Gallopkrdix spadicea spadicea. 



The Red Spur-Fojci. 



The genus Gallojjerdix contains a group of small game-birds 

 entirely confined to India and Ceylon. In general appearance 

 they are half-way between the Jungle-Fowl and the Partridges; 

 they have the general carriage of small hens, but their tails, though 

 much longer than those of the Partridges, are carried in the same 

 manner, and not erect as in the true Jungle-Fowl. 



The moult of the tail feathers is not as yet known, so for the pre- 

 sent I propose to retain these birds amongst the Perdicincb or 

 Partridges, though in many ways they show a close affinity to the 

 Phasianince. 



The wing is short and rounded, the first primary the shortest, 

 and the fifth or sixth longest or equal. The tail consists of fourteen 

 feathers, slightly graduated, and about two-thirds, or rather more, 

 the length of the wing. The tarsus is long and stoutly built, and 

 has twot three, and rarely even four spurs, the numbers on the two 

 legs often being unequal. Even the female usually has a spur on 

 either leg, and often two on one or both of them. 



There is no wattle or comb as in the Jungle-fowl, but there ^ is 

 a naked space round the eye of a dull brick-red colour, which 

 becomes markedly brighter in the breeding season. 



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