HIS MFMfrTCUJ 



Arboricola rufogularis, Blyth. 



Vernacular lTam.es .— [Kohumbut-pho (Lepcha), Lakom (Bhutia), Sikhim; 

 Pokhu, Daphla Hills ; F eura, Kumaun j ] 



ROM the western boundaries of Kumaun, through 

 Nepal, Sikhim and Bhutan to the Daphla Hills, the 

 Rufous-throated Hill Partridge occurs in suitable 

 localities throughout the lower outer ranges of the 

 Himalayas. It may occur, but of this I am not 

 certain, further west than Kumaun. Eastwards, 

 ?*5 again, we are quite ignorant how far it extends 

 beyond the Daphla Hills, which lie north of theDarrang district. 

 Dr. Jerdon says he got it on the Khasi Hills, but this has not 

 been confirmed by either Godwin-Austen or my collectors ; and 

 birds from Cachar and the Naga Hills which Austen originally 

 referred to this species in his earlier papers have been later 

 assigned by him to other species, intermedins and torqueolus. 

 From the Himalayas, southwards, we have, therefore, no certainty 

 of its occurrence until, in the higher ranges of Tenasserim, we 

 again meet with a slightly modified race of it* which is 

 especially plentiful in the neighbourhood of Mooleyit. 



Very probably this Tenasserim race extends into Independent 

 Burma and Siam, but at present we have no knowledge of its 

 occurrence anywhere beyond British limits. 



This SPECIES has a much lower range than the preceding. I 

 have shot it quite at the base of the hills, and I have never seen 

 it at an elevation exceeding 6,000 feet. No doubt I have seen 

 much less of it than of the Common Hill Partridge, but the 

 experience of others confirms my own. 



Thus Beavan says : — 



" This species is much more abundant than A. torqueolus in 

 Sikhim, and near Darjeeling inhabits a lower zone than the 



* The differences of this race, which some will doubtless consider of specific 

 value, will be pointed out later on. 



