GAME, BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. I37 



The Blue-breasted or Painted Quail. 



Excalfactoria chinensis. Faun. Brit. Ind., 

 Birds., Vol. IV, p. 112. 



Native names : — Khair-butai, Kaneli, Nep- 

 aulese ; Gobal-butai, Oudh ; Ngon, Bur- 

 mese ; Pandura-watuwa, Wenella-watuwa, 

 Cingalese. 



This exquisite little creature is the smallest mem- 

 ber of the pheasant family found with us, and both 

 sexes are easily distinguished from our other quails 

 by their, very small size and bright yellow legs. 

 Above, both cock and hen are much like the com- 

 mon quail, with a similar intricate mixture of buff, 

 brown, and black ; below, they are very different, 

 both from these and from each other. The cock 

 has a slate-blue breast, the colour extending more 

 or less on to the flanks, and a rich chestnut belly ; 

 the throat is boldly marked with black and white 

 somewhat as in the Rain Quail. The hen has a 

 buff face, and is buff below with more or less well- 

 defined black cross-bars. Cocks have red eyes, and 

 hens and young cocks brown ones. The legs are, 

 as above stated, bright yellow. 



This bird is only about six inches long, with a 

 wing of about half that length ; it only weighs about 

 two ounces. 



Small and fragile though it looks, however, this 

 tiny quail has a wide range in South-Ea stern Asia, 

 from India to China and Siam. It also possesses 

 a hardy constitution, for, unlike most birds of its 

 family, it seeks rather than avoids wet ground. 

 Thus it is unknown in the dry regions of North- 



