THE JUNGLE BUSH-QUAIL. Ill 



And now one word about the scientific names under which 

 these two species should stand, as in this matter also the 

 utmost confusion has prevailed. 



Both these species have been figured by Sykes, Tr. Z. S., Vol. 

 II., pi. 2 and 3. They are not well figured, quite the contrary, 

 but still they are recognizable, and Jerdon was quite right in 

 correcting Blyth and in assigning Cotimiix pentah, Sykes, to the 

 Jungle Bush-Quail, and Cotumix argoondah, Sykes, to the Rock 

 Bush-Quail ; but when it came to Latham's name, Jerdon was, 

 I think, in error. Carefully comparing Latham's description of 

 his Asiatic Partridge {Perdix asiaticus), especially the passage 

 " through the eye and behind brown, beneath it a patch of 

 fringed whitish feathers, rufous in the middle," there can be no 

 doubt, I think, that this name of Latham's, asiatica, was applied 

 to the Jungle Bush-Quail. 



On the other hand, Latham's other name, cambaiensis 

 (erroneously printed on our plate of the Jungle Bush-Quail), 

 cannot, as I have shown elsewhere (Stray Feathers, Vol. VII, 

 p. 158), possibly apply to either species.* 



This species, the Jungle Bush-Quail, is found in suitable 

 localities almost throughout India, from near Colombo, in Ceylon, 

 to the outer ranges of the Himalayas in Kashmir, but it does 

 not, so far as I know, extend to Sind, nor anywhere east of 

 the Ganges from Rajmehal southwards. Blyth says it is the 

 only species in Bengal, but Bengal is a wide term, and so far 

 as my present information goes, it is only quite as a straggler 

 that it extends anywhere into the deltaic districts of Bengal,*f* 

 or descends from the somewhat higher ground, approximately 

 indicated by a line drawn through Midnapore and Rajmehal. 



The two species have been so constantly confounded that I 

 cannot rely on the localities given by others, but the following 

 is a list of the places from which I possess, or have seen and 

 verified, specimens of this species : — 



Near Colombo and Eastern Province, Ceylon ; Malabar 

 Coast, several localities ; the Wynad ; Mysore, several localities ; 

 Madras (neighbourhood of) ; Pothanore ; several of the Bustar 

 Feudatory States; several localities on the Eastern Ghats ; Satara 

 Hills ; Western Ghats, Mahabaleshvar, Khandala, and other 

 localities ; Ratnagiri and Southern Koncan generally ; Chanda, 

 Seoni, Narsinghpur, Bilaspur, Raipur, Sambalpur, Lohardugga, 

 Manbhum ; Rajmehal Hills ; Mirzapur ; Etawah (Ravines of 

 Valleys of Jumna and Chambal) ; Kuchawan (scrub jungle of 



* I am aware that Temminck, who undoubtedly figured this present species (P. C, 

 447), says that he examined Latham's type, and that it was a mutilated and imma- 

 ture bird of this species. But Latham's description will not answer to any stage 

 of our present bird, whereas his other name asiatica does, and the name cambaiensis, 

 no matter what the type may have been (and there is no reason to believe that 

 Temminck could discriminate immature birds of this and the Rock Bush-Quail), 

 must be altogether suppressed. 



+ Mr. Rainey, however, writes to me, that he has once or twice seen this species 

 in the Jessore district during the cold season. 



