GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA, 105 



bill is blackish, the eyes dark, and the feet dull 

 red. 



The cock of this species, which is a little larger 

 than the hen, will measure fifteen inches, though 

 his tail is only a little over four ; the wing is 

 more than seven inches, and the shank two and-a- 

 ■quarter. 



The Swamp Partridge, as its name implies, has 

 a habitat quite different from our other species, 

 affecting high grass and cane-brakes near the 

 ■edges of rivers and j heels, though it will come 

 into cultivated ground to feed. It haunts the 

 alluvial plains of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, 

 ■extending from Pilibhit to the extremity of Assam 

 and Cachar, and even occurs occasionally on the 

 Khasi plateau ; but it is not found in the Sundar- 

 bans. Very little is known about its breeding, 

 but on two occasions five eggs of the species have 

 been taken in April ; they were cream-coloured 

 and slightly speckled. 



Owing to the localities which it frequents, the 

 Swamp Partridge is usually shot from elephants ; 

 but Blanford states that he has shot it on foot 

 near Co] gong, in grass only three or four feet high. 

 He says it much resembles the common Grey Par- 

 tridge in its edible qualities, as it also does in its 

 call ; and it is equally pugnacious. Mr. Hume, 

 in the ' ' Game-birds of India, ' ' falls foul of his 

 artist for representing this species standing in 

 water like a wading-bird. No doubt the draughts- 

 man represented it thus in ignorance, but it would 

 be interesting to know if this, one of the very few 

 ■swamp-haunting birds in the pheasant family, 

 €ver does voluntarily gO into water in the wild 



