98 THE WESTERN BAMBOO PARTRIDGE. 



shoot, as it will not rise till hard pressed. It is nowhere very 

 abundant." 



Captain Cock remarks : — 



" This is a common Partridge in the Khasi Hills ; very hard 

 to flush, and, when put up, gets up immediately under one's feet, 

 flies a few yards, and drops suddenly into the long grass again, 

 from which it is almost impossible to get it to rise a second time. 



"They are fond of coming out on to open spaces or roads at 

 early dawn, and they roost together in low trees. I once shot 

 four with one barrel, out of a small chir pine, where they had 

 gone to roost. They breed in May and June, but I have not 

 found their eggs," 



Nothing certain is known of the nidification of this species, 

 which is, however, said to lay on the ground (in a small depres- 

 sion in the ground, thinly lined with grass, under the shelter of, 

 or in the middle of, a dense tuft of grass) in May (near Shillong), 

 and to lay seven eggs, unspotted, of a brownish buff. 



Could the eggs found in March by Godwin-Austen at the 

 head of the Jhiri River, North Cachar (J. A. S. B., Pt. II, 

 1874, p. 174), of "a light brown colour," have belonged to this 

 species ? 



The males seem to be larger as a rule than the females, and 

 these latter differ, moreover, as a rule, in wanting spurs and in 

 having the streak running backwards from the eye, dull cinna- 

 mon rufous instead of black. 



Males. — Length, 14*0 to 14*3 ; expanse, 19*0 to 1975 ; wing, 

 6*1 to 6-45 ; tail from vent, 4*62 to 513 ; tarsus, 175 to 1-93 ; 

 bill from gape, 0*9 to 0*97 ; weight, 10 to 14 ozs. 



Females. — Length, 12*6 to 13*5 ; expanse, 18*25 to 19*0 ; wing, 

 5*62 to 5*8 ; tail from vent, 4*61 ; tarsus, 175 ; bill from gape, 

 0^85 to 0*9 ; weight, 9 to 12 ozs. 



These are our own measurements in the flesh ; besides these, 

 there was a bird fully spurred, which Davison avers that he 

 ascertained certainly by dissection and verified closely, being 

 puzzled with the spurs, to be a female, which measured : — Length, 

 14*3; expanse, 1975; wing, 5*9; tail, 4'88 ; tarsus, 2 # o ; bill 

 from gape, 0*9 ; weight, 12 ozs. 



Of Anderson's type, a male, he records the following dimen- 

 sions : — Length, I2'0 ; wing, 5*8 ; tail, 4*2 ; tarsus, 1*58 ; bill from 

 gape, 0-95. 



Godwin-Austen gives the following dimensions of a Shillong 

 male: — Length, 14-5 ; wing, 6*25 ; tail, 5*0 ; tarsus, 2T. 



In our specimens, the legs varied in tint and were brown, 

 greenish plumbeous, green, pale glaucous green, and, Godwin- 

 Austen says, " pale grey, with a green tinge." 



Spurs whitish horny, claws bluish. 



