596 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIII. 



(== ll-4inm); and from gape about -65" {= 16-5nim.); tarsus a little 

 over -8" (= 20-3mm.); the wing in a series of about 25 birds varies 

 from 2-82" (= 71-6mm.) to 3-12" (= 79-2mm.), and there is one 

 bird sexed as male in the Museum Collection with a wing of 3-30" 

 (== 83- 8mm.); excluding this, the average wing measurements for 

 tanli is 3-06" (= 77-7mm.), and for aZftivewkis 2-94" ( =73-7mm.), 

 though, as in the females, the largest alhiventris is bigger than the 

 smallest tanki. 



Quite young females have the nuchal collar very indistinctly 

 shewn, and are plentifully spotted with white, and the feathers of 

 the upper part are profusely barred with dull black. The white and 

 bu.ff markings of scapulars, and inner quills are almost entirely 

 wanting, being represented only by a few pale spots on the outer 

 webs of the quills and coverts. The primaries are margined and 

 freckled with dull rufous on the outer webs, and the other second- 

 aries have a pale margin and blackish sub-margin to the outer webs 

 which are much freckled with dull rufotis. The under parts are 

 duller than in the adult, and are less boldly spotted with black and 

 rufous. 



The nestling closely resembles that of Turnix ]pugnax pugnax 

 already described. 



Hitherto Turnix alhiventris from the Nicobars and Turnix hlan- 

 fordi have both been treated as good species, but after a very 

 careful examination of all the material at my command, I cannot 

 discover any difference between T. tanhi and T. alhiventris upon 

 which it is possible to make the one a different species or even sub- 

 species to the other. The alleged differences according to Ogilvie- 

 Grant between the two are as follows : — 



1. Alhiventris is smaller, having a wing of 3-2" as against 

 3*4" in tanhi. 



2. It retains the rufous feathers in the back in old age. 



3. It has the nuchal collar wider, and of a deeper 

 rufous. 



4. Alhiventris has the upper parts blotched and vermiculated 

 with black like hlanfordi, and the markings of the head like 

 tanki. 



Blanford gives the following differences between the two : — 



1. Tanki. — Adults retain much of the black and rufous 

 barring and mottling on the dorsal feathers. 



2. The feathers on the side of the crown are black with 

 rufous edges in alhiventris. 



3. The collar in the female alhiventris is much darker and 

 broader than in tanki. 



Thus, Blanford only adds one more difference, that of the head, 

 to the differences alleged by Ogilvie-Grant. We have therefore five 

 alleged differences to d«al with. 



