THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON, 409 



Doubtless it will be found to occur in all the districts of Burmah, 

 and through the lower Hill Ranges into Western China. 



As regards elevation, it certainly ascends as high as 8,000 feet, 

 as it has been found above Darjeeling, above Simla, and nearly as 

 high on the highest peaks of North Cachar, and on the highest 

 parts of the Nilgherries where, however, it seems to be extremely 

 rare. 



Naturally from certain parts of the country it is debarred by the 

 heaviness and denseness of the forest, or, on the other hand, by the 

 dryness and bareness of the plains. To the North-West it, perhaps, 

 only wanders during the Rains, and in these parts is semi-migratory, 

 to the extent of moving when, literally, a place becomes too hot to 

 hold it. Elsewhere it is certainly a resident bird, breeding wherever 

 found. 



Nidi ficati 071. — With this, as with the other Turnicidce, the female 

 bird is the one who courts the male, and fights with the other 

 females for him. She is just as pugnacious as her larger relatives, 

 and, sad to relate, is just as negligent of her maternal duties, and of 

 her moral obligations. Until she has won her husband, she will 

 fight for him as if he was the one and only thing she desired in this 

 life, but her frenzy of love soon dies, and after a very short spell of 

 wedded life, she leaves the poor little henpecked husband to hatch 

 the four eggs she has laid, and wanders forth in search of new 

 adventures and more husbands. 



Her purr, coo, or boom, however, we may describe her call, is, I 

 think, a good deal softer and weaker than that of the bigger Bustard 

 Quail, but is otherwise of exactly the same description, and is 

 uttered in the same way, and for the same pm-pose, i.e., to call the 

 male or to challenge another female. Captain Butler told Hume 

 that its call was — 



" a mixture of a purr and a coo, and when uttering it a bird 

 raises its feathers and turns and twists about much in the 

 same way as an old cock pigeon;" 

 and he might have added, with the same motive, that is to say, in 

 order to captivate its mate. 



Doubtless this bird, like the others of its genus, breeds more or 

 less throughout the whole year ; but, perhaps, it is not quite so 

 irregular as the common Bustard Quails. Generally speaking, it 

 may be said to breed principally from April to October, and more 

 especially from June to September. The hen must lay several 

 clutches in the year, for she will go on breeding apparently as long 

 as she can find husbands to hatch her eggs and bring up her yoimg. 

 In North Cachar I found this bird called and bred from late in 

 April to the end of August ; but in the Khasia Hills, adjoining 

 these, she began in early April, and went on until late in Septem- 

 ber, a difference, doubtless, due to the excessive rainfall in parts 

 4 



