Il8 THE ROCK BUSH-QUAIL. 



forests and thick jungle, and eschews well-watered and richly- 

 wooded or cultivated tracts ; it loves dry, open, sandy or even 

 rocky plains or low hillocks, sparsely studded with thin thorny 

 bushes ; elevation is not of so much consequence to it as the 

 openness and semi-waste character of the place. You will find 

 it equally at home on the plains about Ajmere, at an elevation 

 of 1,700 feet, and near sea level in the Carnatic. Dry, half- 

 barren, sparsely-cultivated plains districts are its choice, and 

 hence it follows that, although where localities such as it affects 

 inosculate with those that the Jungle Bush-Quail prefers, you 

 may shoot both species in the same stubble, yet, broadly speak- 

 ing, as Captain Butler remarks, where you find the Rock Bush- 

 Quail, there, as a rule, you do not find the other species. 



As regards habits, notes and food, I have never detected 

 any difference between the two species, except that, perhaps, 

 the packs or bevies into which both species collect are rather 

 smaller in the case of the Rock Bush-Quail. 



In Southern India the natives do appear to distinguish the 

 two species. In Upper India I have always heard them both 

 indiscriminately called " Lowa ,y — a name often equally applied 

 to Turnix taigoor. 



Colonel Sykes, who first discriminated (though somewhat 

 doubtingly) this species, tells us that : — 



" These birds do not frequent cultivated lands, but are found all 

 over the Deccan on the general level of the country, amidst rocks 

 and low bushes. They rise in coveys of from ten to twenty or 

 more from under the feet with a startling suddenness and bustle, 

 and the young sportsman is perplexed in selecting his bird. 

 They are gregarious, and I infer polygamous, as I never saw 

 them solitary or in pairs. Flesh perfectly white. 



" This is the species used for Quail fights by the natives." 

 Jerdon again says : — 



" It frequents rocky hills with low scrub jungle, and especially 

 barren, uncultivated plains, scantily covered with low bushes of 

 Zizyphus or Carissa, and other thorny shrubs, out of which 

 the bevy rises, ten or a dozen or twenty together, with a 

 startling suddenness and bustle, dispersing more or less among 

 the neighbouring bushes. The flesh of this Bush-Quail, as well 

 as of the last, is perfectly white, and it makes a good pie. 

 Plain roasted, they are not so good as the species of Coturnix, 

 being dry and with little flavour. 



" The Rock Bush-Quail is much used for fighting among 

 the Mussulmans of Southern India, as indeed the Jungle Bush- 

 Quail is also, though not so common, nor so highly esteemed." 



Mr. J. Davidson writes to me : — " The Rock Bush-Quail was 

 common in the Sholapur district, nearly everywhere. Its 

 favourite resorts were the stony hillocks with a few scrubby 

 bushes, which are in most places scattered among the cultivated 

 land there. It was, however, a very common thing to start a 



