604 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIIL 



laid the fourth Qgg of one clutch, obtain another male and again 

 start laying. The eggs take less than a fortnight to hatch, but 

 before one set of chickens are ready to appear, she is generally 

 laying again, and as a rule, somewhere quite close to her first 

 clutch. 



The regulation number of eggs is, of course, four, and as regards 

 appearance and size there is nothing to add to the description of 

 the eggs of T. pugnax plwiibiiDes from which it is impossible to 

 discriminate them, though the eggs of Blanford's Button Quail 

 average much larger. I have one clutch which averages 1*08" x "SS" 

 (= 25-6 X 23-8 mm.), another 1-15" x -92" (=29-3 x 25-3 mm.), 

 and a few others about the same. The average is 1-02" x •83" 

 ( =25*9 X 23*1 mm.). This sub-species, unlike lolumbiioes, does, 

 however, seem to have a definite breeding season, and in Oachar 

 and the Khasia Hills they commence breeding at the end of April, 

 and continue until the end of August, a few extra energetic hens 

 continuing to lajr as late as the end of September, 



There is very little on record about this form of Button Quail, 

 but, of course, its habits differ in no way from those of the other 

 sub-species. 



Davison, as q^ioted by Hume, says : — 



" I have always found this species about gardens or in the 

 immediate vicinity of cultivation, but it is very rare, being 

 only occasionally met with, and always singly or in pairs. It 

 is hard to flush, and only flies a short distance before again 

 dropping, but it then runs a considerable distance before halt- 

 ing, and thereafter lies very close. It feeds like other Quails 

 in the mornings and evenings, lying hidden during the heat of 

 the day. On cloudy or rainy days it moves about all day. I 

 do not know the call of this species." 

 Oates writes about this bird to much the same effect : — 



" This Quail is invariably found about gardens in the jungle 



singly or in pairs. I have shot it also in bamboo jungle where 



there was an undergrowth of grass. It is less common on the 



hills than in the plains. On the whole this is perhaps the 



most abundant and universally distributed of all the Quails of 



Burmah, but nowhere will enough be found together to 



furnish sport." 



In North Oachar the Burmese Button Quail is almost common, 



and they are also to be found in some numbers on the Khasia Hills, 



but everywhere else in India it is a comparatively rare bird, and — 



contrary to Oates' experience — everywhere it appears to be much 



more rare on the plains than on the hills. It ascends to a good 



height, and in N. Oachar I came across it at Laisung and Boro 



Ninglo, both villages with much scrub and grass land between them 



and the forest, at elevations of about 5,000 feet. A Khasia also 



