THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 603 



meastirements for the males are 3-06" (==77*7nim.) and 3-53" 

 (==89 •6mm.) respectively. 



Even in these two sub-species, however, certain individuals 

 approach one another in size, though they do not overlap as the 

 different forms oi imcjnax do. Thus the largest iaiiki has a wing of 

 3-52" (=88-9mm.), whilst the smallest blanfordi, a bird from Chefu, 

 has a wing of 3-64" (^9-24mm.). 



Gates, in the " Birds of British Burmah ", writes '.■ — 

 " The plumage of both is identical " 

 and Hume remarks : — 



" So far as plumage goes, both these species &nd joudera (tanki) 

 are inseparable. At any rate, nine out of ten variations in 

 tint, amount and extent of markings, etc., in this species 

 (blanfordi ) can be exactly matched in specimens of joudera 

 and vice versa." 



Distribution. — The Burmese Button Quail extends throughout 

 the whole of Burmah as far South as the South of Tenasserim 

 through the Shan Hills, Siam, China, throughoat the West and 

 South, as far as Manchuria in the extreme North-East and from 

 Burmah to N. E. India. 



Within our limits it is found throughout Burmah, Shan States, 

 Chin Hills, Lushai Hills and thence through the Chittagong Hill 

 Tracts, Hill Tippera, and N. Cachar Hills into the Khasia Hills. 

 It is also found in the Plains districts of Chittagong, Comilla, 

 Sylhet, and Cachar, though a bird collected by Tickell in Tippera 

 was a true T. tanki tanki. In the Naga Hills also the typical form 

 takes the place of blanfordi and the Cachar Hills and Manipur seem 

 to be the limit of the latter to the North- West. 



Nidijication. — Needless to say, the hens are polyandrous, or 

 bigamistic would be better, as thej only have one husband at a 

 time, though the time is very short. 



As a general rule, the nest and eggs of Turnix t. blanfordi cannot 

 be distinguished from that of T. p. plumbijoes but probably on the 

 whole is not so well and compact^ built, not so well finished off, 

 and not so often domed. Moreover, twice I have taken its nest in 

 open bamboo jungles, at the foot of one of the clumps, well hidden, 

 but the nest consisting of little more than a pile of the leaves and 

 roots of bamboos in a hollow in amongst the roots. 



In the Khasia Hills the birds frequent the great open grass plains 

 so common in these hills, and will seldom, if ever, be found in the 

 Pine Forests or evergreen jungle in the wetter nullahs. Their 

 nests also therefore will be found almost exclusively in grass, though 

 on rare occasions one may be found in a stony ravine with bush 

 jungle in it. 



If a clutch of hard set eggs is found, the vicinity should always 

 be carefully searched for another nest as the hens directly they have 



