142 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 



The slight-billed bush-quails, with longer tails 

 and shorter wings than the above two species, and 

 without spur-rudiments in the males, nevertheless 

 closely resemble them in habits. 



The Painted Bush-Quail. 



Microperdix erythrorhynchns. Faun. Brit. Ind., 

 Birds, Vol. IV., p.' 121. 



Native name : — Kodai, Tamil. 



The general colour of this bird is brown, warming 

 into chestnut below, and distinctly spotted with 

 black, the spots being especially large and bordered 

 with white on the flanks and under the tail. The 

 head of the cock is curiously marked with black 

 and white, the chin, crown, and a patch round the 

 eyes being black, while the throat and a band along 

 each side of the head are white, the former having 

 a black border ; the hen's face is dull reddish, with 

 no black and white markings. The legs and bill 

 are bright red, a point which at once distinguishes 

 this species and the next from all our other quails. 

 Young birds are like the hen, but have the black 

 crown, which is nearl}' or quite absent in females. 



The cock, which is a little larger than the hen, 

 is seven inches long, with a wing of three-and-a-half 

 inches and a two-inch tail. 



This bird haunts the forests on and near the A^'est- 

 ern Ghauts, and is also common on the NUgiris, 

 while it has been obtained on the Shevaroys. Its 

 call is different from that of the stout-billed bush 

 quail, and it flies less noisily, being a softer-feathered 



