266



Mr. A. Trevor-Battye,



same as rump, the remainder dark chestnut, slightly spotted on

the inner web : upper breast vinaceous fawn ; lower breast

formed of longitudinal curved stripes. The feathers composing

these stripes are thus coloured, from below, upwards: edge very

dark vaudyke brown (almost black); a line of chestnut; a line

of greyish white ; a. thin edge of brown. Towards the flanks the

stripe is broken, and thence curves outwards and downwards.


Female : Bill yellowish horn ; legs dull yellow ; head and

neck ochreous, with wavy bands of dark brownish grey ; throat

buffish white; breast light buff, with wavy bars of brownish

grey ; back reddish fawn, with fainter bars of a darker colour.


The birds arrived in England on the 8th of April. On

board ship they became quite tame, taking food from my fingers.

They were fond of apples, oranges, bananas, and any kind of

fruit.


At first they shared a compartment of their aviary with a

pair of Spotted Sandgrouse (. Pterocles senegallus), a pair of Palm

Doves (Turtur senegalensis), and a pair of Californian Quails

(Lophortyx calif ornicus J, but after a day or two I removed these

other birds. I did my best to give them appropriate surround¬

ings, making clefts and crevices of stone for them to nest in.

They were also given a little tunnel to run through, which

pleased them very much. They constantly inspected these

holes, but never took to any as a nesting-place. At the end

of April they paired.


The male, during the nesting season, shews himself off

to the very best advantage. Raising himself to his fullest

height and ruffling out all his feathers, he stands thus on the

highest stone he can find, crowing repeatedly, or runs about

in this Penguin-like attitude, only the tips of his toes show¬

ing below his ruffled feathers. This display I have tried to

reproduce in the illustration. The call consists of a double note

repeatedly uttered.


On May 15th I picked up a broken egg of the same shape

as that of the Grey Partridge, but slightly smaller and of a

uniform fawn colour. I had placed some boughs of common

furze in the corners and round a pole in the middle, and on this

they were fond of perching. Later on I removed it, as I



