PHASIANIDAE 



223 



times speckled with gre}-, are deposited with little or no nest, 

 at the foot of a tree, or under a tussock among thin scrub. 



Micropcrdix and Perdicula, the Bush Quails of Anglo- 

 Indians, have a blunt tubercle on each foot in the male. M. 

 erythrorhyncha of South and West India has the crown and 

 cheeks black ; a white frontal band continued down the sides of 

 the head ; brown upper parts, with round buff black-centred spots 

 on the back, and black and buff markings on the wings and tail ; 

 a white throat bordered by black ; and a grey-brown chest and 

 rufous breast, with black spots on the former and the flanks. 

 The bill and feet are red. In the female the crown is brown, 

 the throat and cheeks being rufous. M. bleivitti of Central India 

 is only slightly different ; but 31. manipurensis of Manipur has 

 a chestnut throat, becoming grey in the hen. These active 

 Quail-like little birds haunt the lower mountain -thickets up to 

 perhaps eight thousand feet, forming small coveys, feeding on 

 seeds and insects, and fashioning a slight nest under some sort 

 of cover, to contain from ten to fourteen pointed creamy-brown 

 eggs. Perdicula asiatica of India and Ceylon is brown above, 

 with wavy black dorsal barring, and black and buff markings on 

 the wings and tail; the superciliary stripes and throat are 

 chestnut with whitish margins ; the under parts white with 

 black bars ; the feet red. The female is uniform buff below. P. 

 argoondah of India has dull brick-red in place of the chestnut, 

 and a whitish throat in the hen. It has been introduced into 

 Mauritius. The habits are much as in Micrope^'dix, but the 

 nest is sometimes more elaborate, and the reddish-white or olive- 

 coloured eggs, with possibly a few faint spots, number from five 

 to seven. Margaroperdix madagascariensis of Madagascar, im- 

 ported into Mauritius and Eeunion, has a black head with 

 reddish-brown sides to the crown, a white stripe from above 

 each eye running laterally down the neck, two others from the 

 gape down the margin of the throat, rufous and black upper 

 parts, with buff bars upon the wings and rump-region, and white 

 shaft-streaks except upon the quills. The red-brown chest and 

 black under surface are both margined with grey, and the latter 

 is spotted with white ; the flanks are chestnut, black, and white. 

 It is called " Tro-tro," " Timpoy," or " Tsipoy " by the Malagasy, 

 and inhabits grassy hills, flying rapidly for short distances, and 

 laying from about fifteen to twenty eggs. Natives say that if 



