THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 387 



h. Central tail feathers neither lengthened 

 nor pointed and with no buff margin ; 

 bill yellow ... ... ... ... tanU. 



The different species of the Hemipodii have been divided into 

 species, sub-species, or races, by the majority of naturalists since the 

 time of Jerdon, who himself recognized three species of the Common 

 Bustard Quail, viz., Turnix taijoor from the plains of India, Turnix 

 ■ocellcdus from the Hills of Northern India, and Turnix imcjnax from 

 Java. The latest authority, Ogilvie-Grant, divides the species 

 taijoor into two, taijoor and pugnax, whilst Sharpe in the Hand-List, 

 and Gates in his Game Birds combine them all under the one name 

 jjicgnax. 



Mr. Ogilvie-Grant has dealt very exhaustively with the genus 

 Turnix in the Ibis for 1889, and he there writes : 



"I am convinced that there is only one species (T. taijoor) 

 which ranges through India, Burmah, Malay, Siam and China 

 to Formosa and the Loochoo Islands, and that the key to the 

 constant variety in the tone of the plumage is to be found in the 

 effect of the amount of the annual rainfall in the country which 

 the birds inhabit. By going through the whole of our huge 

 series, I find this theory exactly borne out; for where rain is 

 abundant the prevailing colour of the upper parts is dark 

 brown, where it is moderate the tone is more rufous, and 

 where it is small the birds are very bright rufous." 

 With this conclusion, i.e., that variation in plumage coincides 

 with variation in rainfall, we shall all agree ; the only question to be 

 ■decided is whether these variations of rainfall together with other 

 possible geographical factors cause definite local variations in plum- 

 age sufficiently constant to enable one to form sub-species. I cer- 

 tainly agree with Ogilvie-Grant that all the Indian Bustard Quails, 

 together with the others he mentions, do come under one species, 

 but it seems to me they can be divided into a certain number of 

 sub-species, capable of differentiation by plumage as well as geo- 

 graphically. 



It is now generally accepted that the use of the trinomial system 

 is imperative, and that geographical races, where they can be well 

 defined, must be described as sub-species. If we also accept this as 

 being the proper course to follow, we find that the Bustard Quail is 

 a species essentially divisible into certain well-marked races, the 

 difference between w^hich consists, principally in the amount of 

 rufous and depth of colouring on the upper parts, and, to a rather 

 less extent, in size. 



The British Museum has a magnificent series of specimens of the 

 species Turnix pugnax, and I have also had the advantage of 

 examining those in the Calcutta Museum, in addition to a very 

 great n-umber which have passed through my hands from collectors 



