GALLING. 

 Fam. TINAMID^. 



Bill longer than in the last family, straight at the base, compressed at the tip ; nostrils 

 linear. Wings short. Tail very short, wanting in some genera ; upper tail-coverts lengthened, 

 concealing the tail in many. Tarsus moderately lengthened, without spurs. Hind toe usually 

 wanting, in some very small. 



Sternum with a deep emargination next to the keel, and the outer notch wanting. 



G-enus TURNIX. 



Bill rather long, compressed, straight at the base, the tip well curved; gonys-angle pro- 

 nounced. Wings moderate ; the quills curved, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quills the longest. Tail 

 very short, lax, of 10 or 12 feathers. Tarsus lengthened, much exceeding the middle toe, 

 protected in front with rectangular scales ; hind toe wanting ; middle toe much longer than the 

 lateral ones ; claws stout. 



Female in some species larger than the male and more handsomely coloured. 



TUENIX TAIG00K. 



(THE BLACK-BREASTED BUSTARD-QUAIL. 



Hemipodius taigoor, Sykes, Cat. B. Dukhun, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 155 (the male); id. Trans. 



Zool. Soc. ii. p. 23, pi. iv. (1841). 

 Hemipodius pit gnax, Sykes, ut sujjra, p. 155 (the female). 

 Turnix ocellatus (Scop.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. (rufous var. from South India and 



Ceylon), p. 256 (1849). 



Turnix sykesi, A. Smith. — I once met with a flock or bevy of small Quail among the long grass in tolerably open jungle 

 near Kottiar, but did not procure a specimen. It is possible they may have been the above species ; but, on the other 

 hand, there is a small Button-Quail of India (Turnix syhesi) with winch they may have been identical. I therefore subjoin 

 Jerdon's description of this bird : — " Head brown, black-barred, with a pale supercilium and central stripe ; upper parts 

 chestnut-brown, each feather finely barred with black and edged with yellowish white, conspicuously on the scapulars and 

 part of the back, and on the wing-coverts so broadly as to appear entirely yellowish white, with chestnut black-edged spots ; 

 quills dusky brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts dark brown, closely barred with black, and with faint whitish edges to 

 the feathers ; throat whitish, with open blackish specks on the sides ; breast pale ferruginous, with the sides of the neck 

 and breast with dark brown drops and lunules ; abdomen whitish ; bill plumbeous ; irides pale yellow ; legs fleshy 

 whitish. Length 5 to 5| inches, wing 2|, tarsus | 



" Occurs throughout the whole of India (not, however, affecting hilly or forest districts) in grass, corn-fields, and 

 wherever there is thick herbage. It is flushed with great difficulty, often getting up at your very feet, flies but a few 

 yards, and drops down again into grass, not to be reflushed but after a most laborious search, and sometimes allowing 

 itself to be caught by the hand or by a dog." 



