484 Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. 



Transactions and Periodicals. — British. 



Transactions of the Zoological Societi/ of London. Vol. ii. Part i. 



Longman and Co. London. Printed for the Society. 4to. 1836. 



With this part a second volume of these beautiful Transactions has been com- 

 menced ; a publication unrivalled in the masterly execution and accuracy of its 

 illustrations, and doing much honour to the important society by which it is pub- 

 lished and patronised. 



I. On the quails and ffemipodii of India. By Lieut. Col. W. H. Sykes. In 

 the introductory part of the paper, remarks are made on the value of characters, 

 specific and generic, a subject which has long been fruitful, and does now furnish 

 more than the usual material for criticism. We may observe at once, that we dis- 

 like sections in a genus ; if they are very marked, they deserve a more decided se- 

 paration, if not, they do not require to be sectioned ; and it must always be recol- 

 lected, that if the typical form of a genus is properly selected, in other words, if 

 the genus really deserves that rank, these variations will always mark its correct- 

 ness, and some species will always be seen with characters called aberrant, unit- 

 ing them with the genera which stand on either side. 



We fully coincide with Colonel Sykes when he says, " I have long thought, 

 and daily experience tends to confirm my opinion, that the researches of present 

 and future naturalists, will deprive discoverers of many of their honours in esta- 

 blishing new species of birds ;" at the same time what can they do so long as no 

 authentic system exists. 



Colonel Sykes considers that the quails and partridges should be united, 

 that the former are in reality only " dwarf partridges." The characters of Cotur- 

 nix are remodelled, but the structure of the wing is omitted in the generic cha- 

 racter, while three sections are formed, two of which depend on " alis acumi- 

 natis," and " alis rotundatis." Perdix and Francolinus are also considered hardly 

 sufficiently separated, and H. Ponticerianus is instanced, but this is just one of the 

 specimens which will stand almost on the confines of either, and will point out 

 their alliance. 



Five species of Indian quails are described, three of which are nanied as new. 

 They are beautifully represented by lithographs from the pencil of Mrs Gould. 

 C. dactylisonanis, specimens from India, are considered identical with the bird of 

 Europe, and with those from the Cape, and we agree in the wide distribution given 

 to the species ; we know that it stretches nearly over the whole of the old world. 

 C. textilis is abundant in Bengal, Madras, and the Dukhun ; and it is remarked 

 here, that " so abundant are the different species of quails in the Dukhun, that in 

 April 1829, 517 brace were killed in nine days by four guns." C. erythrorhyncha, 

 N. S. met with only in the valley of Karieh in the Ghats, frequenting the same 



ground with the Perdix picta C. argoondah,TOc)z-qm\\ of the Dukhun, N. S., 



found in the level country amidst rocks and low bushes, rising in coveys of from 

 ten to twenty or more. There is a bird from the Himalaya closely resembling 

 some of the varieties which Colonel Sykes notices, being without the black mark- 

 ings, and nearly similar in plumage to the female, having the strong bill and slight- 

 ly graduated quill feathers. The white streak above the eye, however, extends 



through it to the bill C. pentah, mountain quail, N. S., met with only on the 



mountains, seems a very variable species, and specimens from Himalaya, exhibit 

 considerable distinctive marks. We here remark that we dislike the specific names 

 which have been given to the two last, as well as to a Hemipodius, (H. Taigoor); 



