GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. I41 



canaries. They live on grass-seed and insects, 

 and are themselves rather dry and not so good to 

 eat as the true quails. 



They breed from September to February, laying 

 five to seven creamy-white eggs about an inch long 

 in a nest of grass under the shelter of some bush 

 or tussock. Although so sociable in a state of 

 nature, they will fight in captivity, and are some- 

 times kept for this purpose by natives. 



The Rock Bush-Quail. 



Perdicula argunda, Faun. Brit. India, Birds, 

 Vol. IV., p. 119. 



Native names. — Lowa, Hind, and Mahratta; 

 Lawunka, Telegu ; Sinkadeh, Tamil ; Kemp 

 lowga, Kanarese of Mysore. 



This species is very like the last, but is slightly 

 larger, and differs in a few points in the plumage ;, 

 there is more buff on the upper surface, the head is- 

 dull brick-red with no white eyebrow ; the cock has 

 broader bars below, and the hen a whitish chin and 

 abdomen. But the chief difference is that the inner 

 webs of the pinion-quills are spotted with buff as 

 well as the outer. 



This species, like the last, is a bird of the Indian 

 Peninsula, but has a more restricted range, nor is it 

 found in Ceylon. It also affects more open and 

 drier county, chiefly inhabiting sandy or rocky 

 ground with scanty vegetation ; its nest and eggs 

 are like those of its ally, as arfe its genersil habits ; 

 it breeds in August and September and also in 

 March. 



