COTUENIX. 93 



54. Microperdix erythrorbynchus. The Painted Bush-Quail. 



Sapoora, 9.8.75. 



Kokni-lowa (Hindi) ; Kadai (Tamil). 



$ ^" to 7|" ; 2 J to 3 oz. Legs fine red. Bill fine iB&.—Male : Crown black 

 •with white band. Back olive, spotted black. Throat and cheeks white, with 

 black gorget. Below light chestnut with black spots. Quills brown, with outer 

 webs barred. — Female: Head brown. Chin rufous. Above olive, blotched 

 black. Ten to twelve eggs (1-22 x 0-91), glossy pale brown. Western India 

 and Sind. 



55. Microperdix blewitti. The Eastern Painted Bush-Quail. 



Sirsee-lowa, Mandla, Chanda. 



$ 6" to 6J"; If to 2J oz. Legs coral-red. Bill coral-red. — Male: Narrow 

 black frontal band, with broader white band on'crown. Breast and below chest- 

 nut, widely spotted black. Above grey. — Female : Grey, with broad pale frontal 

 band. Sides spotted. C.P. India. (H. & M. ii. 129.) Shaped something like 

 a small Guinea Fowl. 



56. Microperdix manipurensis. Hume's Paintbd Bush-Quail. 



J 7|"; 3 oz. Legs orange. Bill dusky. — Male: Forehead, supercihum, 

 cheeks, chin, and throat maroon. Spots behind eye and ear white. Upper 

 plumage olive-grey, with central black marks. Shaft streaks on sides wanting. 

 Below buff, with black shaft streak transversely barred, forming cross-shaped 

 black marks. Outer webs of primaries barred rufous. — Female : Head, chin, 

 and throat grey. Below rufous. Sikkim and S.E. Manipur. (B. 1361. 0. 20. 

 O.G. i. 159.) 



Genus COTURNIX. 



Cotumix=Sk Quail, in claasical Latin. Etymology unknown. 



Bill small and slender. Plumage prominently streaked on back and sides. 

 Axillaries long and white. First primary equal to third (second longest), or 

 first second, and third quills are subequal or first longest. Outer web of primaries 

 barred or plain. Tail of ten or twelve feathers less than half the length of the 

 wing. No spurs. Flight rapid, close to the ground, and very straight. 



True Quail {Goturnix and Synceeus) are most common in S. Asia, but occur 

 throughout the whole of the Old Continent as far as New Zealand. Of the Blue 

 Quail {Excalfactoria), one species occurs in India and China, another extends 

 from Malaya to the Philippines and Australia, a third off New Guinea, and a 

 fourth in Africa ; but none in Central and Western Asia. The species from the 

 islands E. of New Guinea {E. lepida) is the smallest game bird in the world. 

 Bush-Quail (Perdicula and Microperdix) are peculiar to the Indian Empire. 



