GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 99 



The Red Spur-fowl. 



Galloferdix spadicea, Faun. Brit. Ind., 

 Birds, Vol. IV, p. io6. 



Native names : — Chota jungli murghi, 

 Hind, in Central Provinces ; chakrotri, 

 kokatri, Mahrattas in the Syhadri Range ; 

 kustoor, Mahrattas of the Deccari ; 

 sarrava koli, Tamil ; yena-kodi, jitta kodi, 

 Telugu. 



The general colour of the male of this species 

 is chestnut, the female being mottled black and 

 buff ; the legs and base of the bill are red, as well 

 as the naked skin round the eyes. The cock is 

 about fourteen inches long, with a six-inch tail, 

 and wing exceeding this by half-an-inch, the biU 

 from gape is an inch in length, and the shank 

 nearly twice this. The hen is a little smaller. 



This Spur-fowl inhabits the base of the Hima- 

 layas in Oudh, and is found in the Peninsula South 

 of the Indo-Gangetic plain wherever the locality 

 is suitable, for it avoids cultivation and open 

 country, frequently hilly forest land. 



It varies a good deal in plumage, birds from 

 Mount Abu and the neighbourhood being paler, 

 especially the hens, in which the black pencilling 

 on the back is very scanty, and the ground-colour 

 pale and greyish." About Matheran and Maha- 

 bleshwar, also, hen birds are very lightly pencilled, 

 although the ground-colour is as rich as in t57pical 

 specimens. 



This bird is shy and often solitary, a great runner, 

 and seldom seen on the wing ; the call of the male 



