PEEDICULA ASIATICA. 



(THE JUNGLE BUSH-QUAIL.) 



Perdix asiaticus, Latham, Ind. Orn. ii. p. 649 (1790). 



Coturnix pentak, Sykes, Trans. Zool. Soc. ii. p. 19, pi. iii. (1835). 



Perdicula cambayensis (Lath.), Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 581 (1864) ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 160 ; 



Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 386; Ball, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 427; Hume, Nests and Eggs, 



iii. p. 546 (1S75); Fairbank, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 262. 

 Perdicula argoondah (Sykes), Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 107. 

 Perdicula asiatica, Gould, B. of Asia, pt. 15, pis. xii., xiii. (1863); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, 



p. 470; Davidson and Wender, Str. Feath. 1878, vii. p. 87; Hume, t. c. p. 158; Ball, 



t. c. p. 225. 

 Perdrix ronsse-gorge, Temm. PL Col. 447 ; Spurred Quail in India. Juhar, Auriconnai 



(Beavan) in Manbhum ; Girza, Hind.; Girza-pitta, Telugu (Jerdon). 



. \flii!t male ami female. Length 6-5 to 6-7 inches ; wing 3-0 to 3-25 ; tail 1-3 to 1-5 ; tarsus 1-0 to 1-1 : middle toe 

 and claw 095 to 1'05 ; bill to gape 0*5, height at nostril 0'25. 



Iris brownish red or dark red-brown ; bill dark horn; lower mandible bluish, with dusky tip; legs and feet dark yellow- 

 red ; claws tipped with dusky. 



Top of the head dark brown, paling on the occiput, hind neck, and upper surface into cinereous brown, and bounded by a 

 conspicuous white stripe passing from the bill over to the nape; between this stripe and the eye a supercilium. 

 below the eye a short stripe, and the chin and throat dark rufous ; hind neck and upper back with buff mesial lines, 

 and crossed with heavy pencillings of black ; lower back and rump crossed with black-edged wavy buff barrings : 

 scapulars, tertials, and wing-coverts marked with bold fulvous-yellow mesial stripes and the inner webs with large 

 black patches and rufescent crossings ; quills brown, barred with yellowish rufescent, chiefly on the outer webs ; 

 tail crossed with narrow alternate wavy bars of rufescent yellow and black ; cheeks white, with black edgings ; 

 lower fore neck, chest, and sides of breast white, with bold black bars, blending into pa'e rufous on the lower 

 flanks, abdomen, and under tail-coverts, the centre of the breast being rufescent whitish. 



Female. Iris paler red than that of the male; bill somewhat paler ; legs and feet yellowish red. 



Rufous supercilium larger than the male, continued upon the forehead and back to the end of the white stripe ; Ihroat 



more intense rufous, this colour frequently joining the rufous spot beneath the eye ; striae on the hind neck faint ; 



mesial stripes on the scapulars, tertials, and wing-coverts less bold and handsome, but the black and rufous-yellow 



markings similar; fore neck and its sides and entire under surface uniform rufescent isabelline, paling down the 



centre of the breast, and pervaded with a greyish hue on the chest. 



Voting. Iris pale brown; bill reddish brown at the base, becoming duskier at the tip ; legs and feet pale yellowish. 



In nestling plumage the male has the upper surface much as in the adult, but the stripes on the back much broader; the 

 head-feathers edged pale ; the white stripe above the eyes very broad : the red supercilium, cheeks, and throat 

 wanting ; the whole under surface is cinereous rufescent, brightest on the flanks and under tail-coverts, and the 

 feathers of the throat, fore neck, and chest with white mesial lines, which extend partly down the flanks as well ; 

 on the chest there are indications of black bars ; a slight wash of rufous on the chin ; the cheeks whitish, striated 

 with dark brown. At a further stage the rufous on the chin and throat increases slightly, and the fore neck aud 

 chest begin to assume dark bars, edged with rufous ; these increase in intensity with age, and are found mingled 

 with the still-remaining rufous feathers on the chest, the flanks being at this time very faintly barred. 



Obs. The stripes on the back of the male evidently decrease with age ; but it does not follow that the youngest birds 

 have them the most pronounced; for a specimen before me with scarcely any rufous on the chin or trace of barring 

 on the chest is marked with narrower stria?, both on the back and scapulars, than another, considerably more 

 advanced, on the chest and throat. 



