THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 203 



lower breast at the sides these bars become longitudinal in shape, the 

 outermost running round the submargin of the feather. The under 

 tail-coverts are darker chestnut, and are unbarred. 



The spurs are said to be smaller, and sometimes absent, but I 

 have not noticed this amongst the many I have shot, and this seems 

 to be more a matter of age and individuality. 



Colours of Soft Parts. — As in asice, but I think the legs very often 

 seem to be a brighter, richer red in old birds. On the other hand*- 

 I have seen some sj)ecimens — not in the breeding season, whose legs 

 I should have described as horny-brown. Probably these were 

 young males of the first year. 



Measurements. — Wings 143 mm. to 155 mm. Birds from Assam 

 Bnd Manipur average a little smaller than those from Sikkim and 

 Nepal, i.e., 149*6 mm. against 152 mm. The former birds are also 

 darker and more richly coloured, the latter are, however, much 

 nearer true melanotus than asicB. Birds from Bhagiratti and Bengal 

 are also a trifle larger and paler than those from Assam. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the Female of asice, but much darker, 

 and the breasts are much more regularly and profusely barred with 

 black. 



Colours of the Soft Parts. — As in asice . 



Measurements — Wings 141 — 149 mm. 



Chick in Doun. — There are none in the British Museum collection, 

 but they are well-known to me, and I think there is a greater contrast 

 between the chicks of the three races than there is in the adults. 

 The chicks of melanotus are very richly coloured, the dark portions 

 including the crown are broader in extent, a richer darker chestnut 

 brown, whilst the fulvous below is also much deeper. 



Distribution — Eastern Nepal, Sikkim, the whole of Assam and 

 Eastern Bengal and the Hill tracts of Tippera and Chittagong. The 

 birds of Central and West Bengal must also be placed w^'th this 

 race, as must those from Northern Orissa, though both aii some- 

 what intermediate. On the other hand those found in the drier 

 climate of Behar are nearer asice. 



Type Locality. — Manipur. 



Nidification.—The breeding season of this Black Partridge commen- 

 ces in early April, and continues until the first few days of July. 

 Undoubtedly April is the month in which most eggs will be found, 

 and those taken in July will, in many cases, be second broods, for 

 many birds lay twice. In North Cachar, where the birds were very 

 common in the wonderful park-like lands in the North, practically 

 every egg was laid in April immediately after the first light rain had 

 brought on a fresh growth of grass on the burnt lands. Tn Northern 

 Assam and the Plains of Cachar, Sylhet, etc., the birds occasionally 

 laid in the end of March, and more often in May, and then again in 



