THE JUNGLE BUSH-QUAIL. 113 



seeds are scarce, for in numbers that I have examined nothing 

 absolutely but these latter were to be noticed. 



Jerdon tells us that " in the south of India the Jungle Bush- 

 Quail frequents open forests, thick patches of jungle, and 

 especially grassy hill sides, with a few scattered bushes, also 

 fields near hills or jungle. Riding through some of the more 

 open forests, especially in the upland districts, a bevy of this 

 little bird is often seen crossing the road, or feeding on grain 

 dropped by cattle." 



Col. Sykes remarks : — " These birds are met with only on the 

 mountains, on the slopes and sides of which they rise in coveys 

 from amidst reeds and long grass and brushwood with the same 

 startling whirl, uttering cries of alarm, as the Rock Bush-QuaiL 

 My specimens were shot at 4,000 feet above the sea." 



Of course, it is not true for India generally that this species 

 is found only in the hills, but it is approximately so in the 

 localities of which Sykes was writing, the Rock Bush-Quail 

 being common all over the Deccan, while the present species is 

 almost confined to the Western Ghats and other hills. 



Col. Tickell, who, although he did not distinguish the two 

 species, was clearly, I think, from the localities he cites, writing 

 of the present species, says : — 



" These little Partridges, called from their size * Bush-Quail' by 

 sportsmen, are tolerably common in the jungly tracts of India 

 — off the alluvium, to the south and west of the Ganges and 

 Bhagirathi. In the more arid parts of Singhbhoom, in Bankoora, 

 Midnapore, Hazaribagh, Beerbhoom, and Chota Nagpore, they 

 are pretty numerous. They prefer stony, gravelly places, amongst 

 thorny bushes, such as the jujube or ber ; or tracts of stunted 

 Sal, Assun, and Polas (or Dhak) : congregating in coveys of 

 eight to a dozen under thickets, whence of an evening they 

 emerge into adjacent fields, meadows, and clumps of grass to feed. 

 They lie very close, suffering themselves to be almost trodden 

 upon, and then rise at once out of some small bush, with a 

 piping whistle, and such a sudden start and whirr, instantly 

 flying off to all parts of the compass — including sometimes 

 a close shave of the sportsman's countenance — that a more 

 difficult bird to hit could nowhere be found, especially as their 

 flight is prodigiously rapid, and directed so as barely to skim 

 the upper twigs of the bushes. They do not go far, but when once 

 down are hardly ever flushed again till they have reunited. This 

 they lose as little time as possible in doing, running like mice 

 through the herbage to some central spot, where the oldest 

 cock bird of the covey is piping all hands together Although 

 so gregarious and sociable, these birds are very quarrelsome, 

 and their extreme pugnacity leads to their easy capture. The 

 mode of taking them is precisely the same as that which has 

 been already described with regard to the Grey Partridge 

 (Ortygomis pondicerianus), of which bird the Bush-Quail is in 



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