94 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 



in bushy ground or in thin forest jungle. Hodgson noted the firm 

 and quasi-spinous character of the plumage of the neck and breast. 



28. Perdicula Cambayensis, Latham. 



Perdix, apud Latham — Cotnrnix pentah, Sykes, Gat. 156 — 

 Hardwicke, 111. Ind. Zool. 2, pi. 45 f. 3— Zool. Trans. 2, pi. 3— 

 C. argoondah, apud Gould, Birds of Asia, pt. XV., pi. 13* — 

 Jerdon, Cat. 278 — Blyth, Cat. 1517 — P. rubicola, Hodgson 

 - — P. rubiginosa, Valenc.? Girza, H. — Girza pitta, Tel. 

 The Jungle Bush-quail. 



Male, above rich dark reddish brown, mottled with dull rufous ; 

 a long yellowish or rufous white supercilium, narrowly edged 

 with black, and an indistinct pale line from the gape ; between 

 this and the supercilium rufous brown ; the shafts of the feathers 

 of the back of the neck and the back white ; many of the feathers 

 of the back with black markings ; and the scapulars and wing- 

 coverts richly marked on their inner webs with pale creamy white 

 and black ; primaries red-brown, with fulvous or tawny spots or 

 bars ; tail with a few black bars ; beneath, the chin is rich chesnut, 

 and the rest of the under surface white, tinged with rufescent on the 

 lower abdomen, flanks, vent and lower tail-coverts, with numerous 

 crossbars of black, small on the throat and sides of neck, increasing 

 in size on the breast and abdomen, and disappearing towards the 

 vent. Bill dusky, with reddish tinge ; irides light brown ; legs 

 yellow-red. Length 6J inches ; wing3£; tail 1 J ; tarsus ly 1 ^. 



The female has the lower plumage rufous, with whitish shafts 

 in some specimens, and the black markings of the upper plumage 

 less distinct ; the throat is generally darker rufous than the rest 

 of the lower plumage. In some specimens the rufous tino-e is 

 more distinct above, and in others less so, and the brown has 

 more of a greyish tinge. The absence of the rich rufous throat in 

 many of Col. Sykes' specimens is probably a mark of immaturity. 



This pretty little Bush-quail is extensively distributed through- 

 out India, and is found at all levels from the sea-coast to nearly 

 5,000 feet of elevation. In the south of India it is chiefly found in 

 the more wooded districts in Malabar, Mysore, on the eastern 



* Except the account of its habits bv Sykes and Burgess which relates to the 

 next bird. 



