MALAYAN ORNITHOLOOY. 175 



them singly, and, as a rule, on ground covered with scrub or long 

 grass. Like all the Quails, they are very difficult to put up, trust- 

 ing to their legs more than their wings. 



In my note-book I have written as follows : — 

 " Kuala Kangsa, Perak, 8th June, 1877. — To-day I shot a female 

 specimen of the Malayan Turnix, almost identical with T. taigoor 

 of Stkes : my bird measures 6 \ inches ; irides yellowish white ; bill 

 and legs bluish lead-colour ; it has but three toes ; throat and upper 

 part of breast black ; under-parts and the wings rufous brown, 

 barred on the wings and lower part of the breast with black ; head 

 and neck freckled with black and white spots : claws white ; weight 

 slightly over 2 oz. 



" When walking through the jungle I often flush these Quail. 

 Small open patches appear to be their favourite resorts ; and I very 

 seldom find them in the paddy-fields, where the little Excalfactoria 

 chinensis swarms." 



Among the " lalang" grass round the barracks at Singapore, 

 Bustard-Quail were very common, breeding during Mav, June and 

 July. 



On 1st July I found a brood of five young ones running about 

 with their mother among the flower-beds in the Botanical Gardens, 

 and on 24th August disturbed a family of them in the long grass 

 close outside our mess ; they could not fly more than a few yards 

 at a time, so were easily caught. 



One I carefully examined, though fully feathered, could scarcely 

 fly at all, but ran at a great pace, and showed much cleverness in 

 hiding itself by crouching flat on the ground, taking advantage of 

 any hole or depression ; its irides were straw-colour, like those of 

 the adult. 



I used to see the Malays in Perak employ these birds as decoys 

 to catch others of their kind, much in the same way as Dr. Jerdois" 

 in his " Birds of India" describes it as being done by the natives in 

 the south of India. 



The decoy, usually a hen bird, is enclosed in a small wicker cage, 

 having an arrangement by which, on the breaking of a thread which 

 is stretched across the bars, a net springs over the front of the cage. 

 This contrivance is placed in a likely spot in the jungle : and the 



