654 JOURNAL, BOMBAl NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIl. 



Adult Female. — Generally similar to the male, but crown brown, 

 more or less streaked with, black ; upper parts more heavily marked 

 with black ; supercilia rufous instead of black and white ; chin, throat 

 and neck rufous, spotted with black, and the white band on the chest 

 replaced by chestnut. Below the general tone is duller, and there is 

 more rufous on the breast ; from below the breast to the vent there 

 are numerous white spots, sometimes practically absent in very old 

 females. 



Colours of the Soft Parts.— Bill black, or black with brown on com- 

 missure and gonys and, according to Hume, sometimes brown also on 

 the culmen ; legs like those of the male, but duller, and even some- 

 times with no trace of red at all ; irides brown ; orbital skin livid red, 

 or dull purple-pink. 



Measurements. — ^Decidedly smaller than the males, the wings run- 

 ning from 140 to 151 mm., and averaging only 144-7 mm. One tiny 

 female has a wing of only 136 mm., but this, though mature, seems to 

 be an abnormally small bird, and is not included in the average. 



Young Male. — ^Like the adult, but with the supercilia obsolete or 

 entirely wanting ; there is no chestnut on the flanks and but little on 

 scapulars and coverts ; the whole of the lower surface is covered with 

 white drops from breast to vent. 



A Still Younger Male.—l& like the female, but very pale below, and 

 without chestnut on eitherwings or flanks, whilst the whole lower 

 surface is covered with white drops as in the previously described stage. 



Distribution. — The typical form of this little Partridge extends from 

 Garhwal and Kumaon through Nepal, Sikkim, Tibet, the whole of the 

 Hill Ranges, North of Assam as far East as the Chulikatta Mishmi 

 Country. South of the Brahmapootra it is found in the higher ranges 

 of the iS[aga Hills and in the Barail Range of N. Cachar, and probably 

 in these same ranges all through Northern Manipur, and thence East 

 as far as the HiUs South-East of Lakhimpur, but it does not seem to 

 inter the Chin Hills, where its place is taken by Bateman's Partridge. 



Nidificaiion. — The breeding season of the Common Hifl Partridge 

 commences in the lower elevatioDs in the end of April, and goes on 

 until the early part of June, whilst in the highest of its haunts, it 

 breeds about a month later than this. It is, however, rather an erratic 

 bird in its laying, and I have taken eggs in March, and once had its 

 eggs brought me together with the parent bird in the middle of 

 August, it having been trapped about the 12th of that month. It lays 

 its eggs in a merely grass-fifled scratching in the earth, or it may make 

 a somewhat more pretentious nest, and will, on rare occasions make a 

 reaUy weU-built one of grass, leaves and weeds, matting them well 

 together, and raising the sides so that the whole afiair becomes a very 

 deep cup. I have never, however, known them make a domed nest, 

 such as is sometimes made by rufogularis and often by the Black- 

 throated Hill Partridge. This is probably because, as far as I know, it 



