598 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



ance to the plumage ; the head too is generally blacker ; the 

 black spots on the wings are rounded, and have less of the charac- 

 ter of bars and more that of spots. In size it is larger too than 

 the peninsular species. 



Bill slaty brown ; irides pale yellow ; legs leaden. Length 

 fully 7 inches ; wing 3 T 6 n ; tail 1 ; tarsus 1 ; bill at front T %ths, 

 stronger than in taigoor. 



The male bird differs from the female much as that of taigoor 

 does, and it has the same characters of the upper plumage as 

 the female. 



This species appears to inhabit the Himalayas, Assam and 

 Burmah, perhaps extending into Malayana. Specimens from the 

 Khasia hills and Burmah, quite agree with Himalayan birds, but 

 those from Malacca are still darker, the whole head being blacker, 

 the pale lines on the top of the head and the supercilia hardly 

 contrasting ; and the black wing-spots are still rounder than in 

 Himalayan birds, Scopoli's name of ocellatus being perfectly appli- 

 cable to such birds, a trifle less so to Himalayan specimens, and 

 not at all to taigoor. It is possible that in Malacca an allied race, 

 pvgnax, takes the place of the Himalayan and Burmese birds, and 

 perhaps interbreeds with it, as very probably the present bird may 

 with taigoor, where the two meet, on the confines of Bengal to the 

 North and East. How far this bird may extend along the Hima- 

 layan range westward, I know not, as there are no records of 

 its occurrence further West than Nepal. 



The Hill Bustard-quail is found on grassy slopes on the Hima- 

 layas, in cleared spots as Tea gardens, and fields ; and the female 

 has a similar, but still louder purring call than that of taigoor. The 

 female is much more commonly met with than the male. It 

 occurs up to a level of 7000 feet, and I have seen it occasionally 

 in grassy compounds in the station of Darjeeling. I had the egg- 

 brought me once, very similar to that of taigoor, but darker and 

 a trifle larger. 



Other species belonging to this section are T.^ugnax, Temminck, 

 from Java, possibly the same as T. luzoniensis, Gmel. ; T. fasciatus, 

 Temm., from Macassar, figured by Gould, Birds of Asia, pt. XIII., 

 pi. 16; and T. nigrifrons, Cuvier, from some of the islands. Two 



