m Mtmnra una wmi 



Arboricola torqueolus, Valenciennes. 



Vernacular HamOS.— [Peura, Ban-tetra, Bun-teetur, Kumaun Garhwdl and 

 westwards; Kaindal, Kangra ; Kohempho (Lepcha) ; Kangkom (Bhutia), 

 Sikhim ] 



ROM the eastern borders of the Chamba* Territory, 

 and at least as far as the left bank of the Ravi, to 

 the eastern boundary at any rate of Sikhim, the 

 Common Hill Partridge is found in suitable local- 

 ities throughout the outer ranges of the Himalayas. 

 Westwards of the Ravi, it may occur. I have no 

 information on the subject, but it is pretty certain 

 that it does not extend far into Kashmir, or some one would 

 have recorded it thence. 



Eastwards of Sikhim it may extend into Bhutan, but it was 

 not observed a little further east by the Dafla expedition, who 

 obtained only the next species, the Rufous-throated Hill Par- 

 tridge. 



It appears possible that this species may also occur in the 

 Naga Hills, as Major Godwin-Austen thus finally identified 

 specimens obtained there by Capt. Butler and Mr. Roberts. 

 Major Austen, indeed, treats the Naga Hill bird as a variety, but 

 chiefly on the strength of Dr. Jerdon's erroneous statement 

 that the legs of the present species are '* red," which, of course, 

 they never are. . Prima facie, it might seem more likely that 

 the Naga Hill bird should be distinct, but as the only distinction 

 on which Major Godwin-Austen relies is invalid, we must, 

 for the present, assume the birds to be identical.^ 



This species, so far as is yet known, occurs nowhere outside 

 our limits. 



The Common Hill Partridge haunts dark, densely-jungled 

 water-courses and ravines running down the hill-sides, and never, 



* It is common in Kullu, and Dr. John Harvey writes from Chamba: "It is 

 fairly common about the Hathi-dhar Mountains, about five miles north-west from 

 Nurpur, in the Kangra district, but seems never to have been met with in Chamba, 

 on the northern side of the Kangra Range, nor have the Haja's falconers ever seen 

 it above Chand, close to Sindhara, on the Ravi, about 75 miles from Dalhousie. I 

 think it very probable that it crosses the Ravi into Kashmir, but it possibly may 

 not." 



t But note that his dimensions, wing, 5 32, &c , are very small for true torqueolus. 



