6 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 



to maintain these popular distinctions, if only for 

 the sake of convenience. 



To commence, then, with the most familiar birds 

 of all :— The jungle-fowl are distinguished by their 

 combs, fleshy ridges of skin running from the base 

 of the beak up the forehead : these are very small 

 m the hens, but always discernible, and at once 

 mark ofT all our three species of jungle-fowl. 



The peafowl are at once separable by their crest 

 and great size ; the shank is five inches long or 

 over, none of the other members of the family 

 having it as much as five inches. The cock Argus 

 comes nearest, but he has a very different tail and 

 no crest. 



The quails, on the contrary, are very little 

 creatures, the largest quail having a closed wing of 

 under five inches, whereas all birds with a wang 

 over this length may be reckoned as partridges, 

 it being understood that the term merely refers 

 to size. 



The real difficulty lies in separatmg the par- 

 tridges and pheasants, which make up the bulk of 

 the family. 



Pheasants are generally large birds (never under 

 eighteen inches long), with the tail as long as the 

 wing or longer ; when it is shorter, the difference 

 is not more than two inches, and it onl}" reaches 

 this in the Tragopans and Monauls. 



Partridges are almost always much smaller than 

 pheasants, with proportionately much shorter tails ; 

 two partridges, the snow-cocks, are bigger than 

 many pheasants, but thej^ have the true partridge 

 short tail, about three inches less than the wdng. 



