55 



head and shoulders of the fish. On removing the toad, the fish swam 

 away, apparently unhurt. 



Colonel Sykes read a paper " On the Quails and Hemipodli of 

 India," which he illustrated by the exhibition of a very extensive 

 series of those Birds, belonging partly to his own collection, which 

 was made in Dukhun, and partly to that of the Society, which has 

 been enriched by specimens from various Indian localities. 



The author prefaces his descriptions of the species by some ge- 

 neral observations on generic distinctions and characters, and illus- 

 trates his remarks by commenting on some of the genera and species 

 constituting the genus Tetrao of Linnaeus and his followers. He 

 shows that the form of beak alone is inadequate as a mark of ge- 

 neric distinction, and that the form, and number, and size of the 

 toes and nails, are not always of themselves to be regarded as suffi- 

 cient for generic characters. Passing to the characters deriveable 

 from the combined consideration of the beak and feet, on which 

 Brisson's system was founded, he remarks on some incongruous 

 associations which were thereby occasioned. Size, the most conve- 

 nient mode (in his estimation) of distinguishing the Quails from the 

 Partridges, cannot, he remarks, be admissible as affording adequate 

 grounds for generic distinction. Habits, also, present many diflSi- 

 culties in defining associations into genera ; those assigned by au- 

 thors to an entire group belonging frequently to only one or a few 

 of the species included in it, while in some cases, such as that of 

 the common Quail, the habits differ in different localities ; that bird 

 being in Europe migratory, while in India (and proljably in China 

 also) it is stationary : its solitary habits, except at a particular sea- 

 son, are preserved in India, but its evident congener, the Cot. tex- 

 tilis, is never flushed without a second being found within a few 

 paces. Plumage, although in many genera there is an evident ten- 

 dency to assume a particular livery, is evidently unsuitable for ge- 

 neral adoption as affording adequate grounds for generic distinction, 

 however useful it may be in the discrimination of species. 



After passing in rapid review the genera adopted by M. Tem- 

 minck in the family of Tetraonida, and offering brief remarks on the 

 validity of the several groups. Colonel Sykes proceeds to state that 

 having felt himself disappointed in his attempts to form a just and 

 precise estimate of generic differences from external characters only, 

 he sought in internal organization, in the form of the tongue, and in 

 the colour of the irides for additional guides and evidences of affini- 

 ties or dissimilarities. As regards the former of these, he turned his 

 attention principally to the stomach, the caca, the proportional length 

 of the cmca to the intestine, and the proportional length of the in- 

 testine to the body. Notes of these several particulars, as obsei-ved 

 by him in India in nearly two hundred species of animals, are now 

 in bis possession ; from which he extracts and arranges in a tabular 

 form such as relate to the Quails and Hemipodii, and, by way of 

 further illustration, such also as relate to some species of Perdix, 

 Francolinus, Colv.mha, and Pterodes. 



