GAME BIRPS OF INDIA AND ASIA: 157 



breeds in the rainy season, sometimes simply- 

 laying in a hollow, and sometmies making a domed 

 nest. The eggs are usually four, greyish with red- 

 dish and brown markings, and nearly an inch long. 

 The variation of colour in this bird follows the cli- 

 mate it inhabits, the darkest and greyest specimens 

 coming from districts where there is a heavy rainfall;, 

 these individuals evidently having a constitution 

 more suited for resisting damp. It is, of course, 

 possible that a damp climate may have a direct effect 

 on the plumage, but this could only be established 

 by keeping the reddish specimens from a dry tract 

 in an open-air aviary in a damp district, and observ- 

 ing if they moulted out greyer. 



The Yellow-legged Button-Quail. 



Turnix tanki, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, VoL 

 IV, p. 153. 



Native names : — Lowa, Lowa-butai, Hindi ;. 

 Pedda daba gundlu, Telegu. 



This is about the same size as the last species, but 

 is less speckled above and more inclined to a plain 

 drab ; moreover, at certain seasons, the hens have a 

 chestnut half-collar at the back of the neck. The 

 underparts are buff without bars, but with black 

 spots at the sides of the breast. Young birds are 

 redder and more speckled above. The bill and legs 

 are bright yellow, with a black streak along the ridge 

 of the bill in males. 



The bird is found all over India, including Sind, 

 but does not usually range above 4,000 feet in the 

 hills. In April 1898, however, Mr. Goldstein, the' 

 Chemist at the Chowrasta in Darjeeling, showed 



