746 FRANCOLINUS PICTUS. 



in the Meda Korale, and which is such a conspicuous piece of country when seen from the Haputale 

 coffee-estates. 



It was first made known as a Ceylonese bird by Mr. William Ferguson, who addressed a letter to the 

 ' Observer ' newspaper on the 7th of December 1865, calling attention to the existence of a species of Partridge, 

 which he concluded was F. pictus, specimens of which had then recently been shot by Mr. Wright in Haputale. 

 This gentleman had met with a flock of six, out of which he procured his birds. A few days after this a second 

 letter appeared in the ' Observer/ from an old sportsman, who affirmed that the same Partridge had been shot 

 in 1848 by Messrs. Poigudestre and Tapp in the same district ; and that year would therefore seem to be the 

 earliest date concerning which any published notice of the bird's occurrence was given out. Colonel Watson, 

 of Kandapolla, however, who is one of the oldest sportsmen in Ceylon, informed me that he had shot this bird 

 forty years ago, in the neighbourhood of Fort Macdonald ; and, as full reliance may be, I am sure, placed in his 

 identification of the bird, he was, in all probability, the first Englishman who met with it in Ceylon. 



On the mainland this Partridge has a tolerably wide range. On reference to the ' Birds of India/ we find 

 the following sketch of its distribution : — " The Painted Partridge may be said to take the place of the Black 

 in Central and part of Southern India. It is found throughout Bundelkund and the Saugor and Nerbudda 

 territories, and thence south through Nagpore and the Deccan, about north latitude 15°, gradually becoming 

 more scarce southwards. I have heard of its occasional occurrence near Bangalore, still further south, but 

 where the land is higher and the climate colder. West it extends into Kandeish and perhaps Guzerat, but is 

 not known on the Malabar coast; and eastwards it is found throughout Chota Nagpur and adjacent lands to 

 the more open parts of the northern circars as far as Cuttack, but far more rare there than on the coast of the 

 peninsula. I have found it most abundant in the Deccan, near Jaulna, and at Mhow, less so in Saugor, 

 Nagpore, and Hyderabad." 



As supplementary, and confirming these remarks, we gather from ' Stray Feathers' that the Rev. Dr. 

 Fairbank found it in the Deccan in bushy places ; and Messrs. Davidson and Wender state that in this 

 same locality it is common. Mr. Ball met with it on the borders of the Patna and Karial districts, and records 

 it likewise from Raipur, in the Central Provinces. As regards its occurrence in Chota Nagpur, however, he 

 speaks with some doubt, remarking that he has never seen it north of the Mahanadi, and that the only species 

 he met with in the Division was the Black Partridge. With regard to the north-west of India, Captain Butler 

 remarks that it is common on the plains adjacent to Mt. Aboo, but that it does not ascend the hills; and 

 Mr. Hume adds that it is likewise frequent in Kattiawar, and that he has seen it from Anadra, Sirdhi, and 

 Erinpoora, localities in the surrounding district. In ' Nests and Eggs/ this author speaks thus of its range : — 

 " It is found in suitable country in most parts of the northern half of the peninsula of India, extending north- 

 wards as far as a line drawn from the Runn of Cutch to Gwalior, and from this latter to Ganjam." 



Habits. — This handsome Francolin frequents the low scrub, bushy growth, and maana-grass and bracken- 

 thickets which cover the patna-hills stretching from Fort Macdonald across to the lofty Haputale range. This 

 singular tract of country, which I have so often had occasion to refer to in this work, and which I have styled 

 the Uva patna-basin, is one of the most remarkable upland regions in Ceylon. Viewed from the summit of 

 Totapella, which towers, on its south-eastern border, some 3500 feet above the general level of the tract, it has 

 the appearance of a hillocky upland plain, bounded on all sides by high mountains. Let us, however, descend 

 through the forests, and cross the Wilson's bungalow and Haputale track, and we find the plain has become 

 transformed into a maze of steep-sided hills, which rise from 400 to 800 feet from the bottoms of the deep 

 gorges, which are drained by a number of streams flowing towards Attampitiya, to form the southern affluents 

 of the Mahawclliganga. These steep " braies," and the high ground between the valleys, are clothed with a 

 tangled mass of scrub, bushes, and lofty maana-tussocks, which, blended together by distance, had the 

 appearance from the top of the mountain of ordinary grass ; here and there this vegetation is broken by 

 patches of jungle following the course of the streams, or varied by the presence of green paddy-fields, such as 

 those round Fort Macdonald and Wellcmade, and which are the resort of numerous Snipe in the cool season. 



Such is the stronghold of the Painted Partridge in Ceylon ; and no description of country could be better 

 suited to the skulking habits of this bird. It resorts to hollows and moderate slopes, thickly covered with 

 bushes and grass, and never seems to come into the open except in the early morning or in the evening after 



