THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 657 



dry," We used to consider them very good eating. Thej arz drjj, 

 but they are very tender and sweet, and basted with a Uttle fat or 

 butter, make a quit e first-class dish . 



Arboricola torqueola batemani. 

 Ogilvie-Granfs Hill Partridge. 



Arboricola batemani — Ogilvie-Grant, Bull. B. 0. C, xvi, p. 68, 

 (1906), (Chin Hills) ; Editor's, B. N. H. S. J., xvii, p. 812, (1907), 

 (Chin Hills, Falam). 



Vernacular Names. — VVo-gam or Gam-toung (Kachin). 

 Description -Adult Male. — Like the Common Hill Partridge, but 

 has the sides of the neck much mixed with chestnut or wholly of this 

 colour. The chin, throat and neck appear to be more profusely marked 

 with white, but as nearly all the specimens in the British Museum 

 collection have the necks very much drawn out, the extra amoimt oi 

 white may be due to this. The chestnut of the scapula.rs and inner 

 secondaries is darker, duller and more extensive. 

 Colours of Soft Parts. — As in A. t. torqueola. 



Measurements.- — This bird is possibly slightly smaller than is the 

 Common Hill Partridge, though a larger series may well disprove this. 

 In wing measurement six birds vary from 144 to 154 mm., and average 

 only 148" 6 mm. against 153 mm. in the common form. The tarsus 

 runs from 44 to 46 mm., and the bill at front 18 to 19 mm. 



Adult Female — Is difficult to distinguish from that of the last bird, 

 but is generally more rufous in tone above. 



Measurements.— The wings of six birds range from 140 to 149 mm., 

 and average 143" 6 mm. 



Distribution. — So far as is kno^vn at present, this bird is confined 

 to the Chin and Kachin Hills, but may wander do\vn into the higher 

 of the Northern Arrakan Yomas and must somewhere in the North- 

 East extend until it meets and blends into the Yunnan and Annam 

 forms. 



Nidificalion. — ^As far as I can ascertain, there is nothmg on record 

 about the nesting of this Partridge, but I have two clutches of its 

 eggs sent to me from the Chin Hills, taken at Haka by Col. Harmgton's 

 collectors. Both of these clutches, which consisted each of 4 eggs, 

 were taken at Haka in the Chin Hills in dense evergreen forest. 

 The eggs were quite fresh, and were said to have been taken from 

 hollow scratched in the ground and lined with fallen leaves and rubbish. 

 These eggs are the usual pure white, and of course indistinguishable 

 from those of the Common Hill Partridge, though, as individual speci- 

 mens, they are rather broader, shorter eggs than usual ; the biggest 

 egg each way measures 41-5 by 30*5 mm., and the shortest, which is 

 also the most narrow, measures 37 '5 by 29"2 mm. 



They were laid on the 24th of AprH, and 22nd May 1910, 

 respectively. 



