RED SPUR-FOWL. 55 



Bill dusky-horny ; orbits red ; irides orange brown ; legs and 

 feet vermillion red. Length 14 to 14J inches ; wing 6J ; tail 5 ; 

 tarsus 2 ; weight 12 to 13 oz. 



The female has the crown dusky blackish, the neck olive 

 brown, and the rest of the upper plumage pale rufous-brown, 

 each feather with two or three blackish bands, and minutely 

 speckled, and the tip pale ; the rump and upper tail- coverts are 

 minutely freckled ; the tail mostly blackish, with mottled rufous 

 bars, tending to become obsolete ; primaries, their coverts, and 

 the winglet, spotless dusky brown ; throat albescent ; neck olive 

 brown, the feathers becoming rufous in the centre, and tipped 

 with black ; breast and flanks bright ferruginous, with narrow 

 black tips ; belly dusky brown ; under tail-coverts freckled rufous 

 brown. 



Length 13 inches ; tail 4f . 



The male bird has usually two spurs on each tarsus, sometimes 

 three on one, and occasionally two on one leg and one on another, 

 often long and sharp. The hen bird has usually one on each 

 leg, sometimes absent on one leg ; and occasionally two on one 

 leg and one on the other. 



The Red Spur-fowl is found throughout the South and many 

 parts of Central India, extending into the Rajmahal and Kurruk- 

 pore hill ranges south of the Ganges, but rare there. I have 

 seen it most abundant in the Malabar jungles, from near the level 

 of the Sea to the Neilgherries, up to nearly 7,000 feet of eleva- 

 tion, but more common lower down ; in the Northern Circars ; in 

 the eastern parts of Central India ; in the high land between 

 Nagpore and the Nerbudda, and also in the Vindhian range. As 

 both male and female are figured in Hardwicke's Illustrations, 

 it may occur in some parts of the North-western Provinces, 

 but I have not seen it recorded higher than Bundelkund. In 

 the less wooded ranges of the Eastern Ghats, it is rare, being 

 there replaced by the next bird. This species is stated in 

 some works to inhabit Madagascar as well as India, but this is 

 exceedingly doubtful. If it really has been received as from 

 Madagascar, I would accept Mr. Blyth's conjecture that it and 

 Francolinus sinensis (also stated to have been received from 



