152 THE BLACK-BREASTED OR RAIN QUAIL. 



It is not as yet known to occur anywhere outside the Indian 

 Empire, but it probably occurs in the valley of the Irrawady, 

 north of our Frontier, far into Independent Burmah ; and, though 

 neither Swinhoe nor David and Oustalet admit it in their lists 

 of the Birds of China, a specimen from that country is noticed, 

 Blyth says, in the report accompanying the narrative of Com- 

 modore Perry's expedition. Possibly there is some mistake 

 about this. 



ALTHOUGH in many districts, especially in the Deccan and 

 Central India, the Rain Quail, while changing its feeding grounds 

 and haunts as the seasons revolve, is in normal years a permanent 

 resident, yet throughout the major portion of its range the great 

 majority are only seasonal residents, spending the drier months 

 of the year in the low-lying and moist tracts of Lower Bengal 

 and other provinces, and the monsoon in the higher, drier 

 regions of Upper and Western India. 



In the Punjab, in the N.-W. Provinces north of the Jumna, 

 in Oudh and Behar, in Western Rajputana, Sind, Cutch 

 and Kathiawar, it is not until the rains are just about to com- 

 mence, often not till they have set in, that we ever see more 

 than a straggler. It is only at this time, or late in the hot 

 weather when some showers have fallen there, that this species 

 finds its way to the valley of Nepal and other similar places 

 in the Eastern and Central Himalayas up to elevations of four to 

 six thousand feet. Except at this season, the Rain Quail is 

 normally a bird of the plains, not ascending the hills any- 

 where, though a few stragglers may be killed on patches of burnt, 

 freshly springing grass on the Nilgiris, up to at least 6,000 feet, 

 as at Neddiwutum in May, after the April showers. 



This species is habitually met with in pairs from April to 

 October, and singly during the cold season. Just after the 

 young are able to fly they may be seen in families, but at other 

 times, though many may be flushed in the same patch, they all rise 

 and fly independently, and cannot ever be said to occur 

 between December and July in coveys. 



Their general appearance and flight so closely resembles that of 

 the Grey Quail, that, except for their smaller size, it would be im- 

 possible to distinguish them on the wing. Their habits too are 

 very similar, but the present species, on the whole, is more of 

 a grass bird than the Grey Quail, and feeds more on grass seeds ; 

 and, though of course often found in millet and other crops, is less 

 exclusively devoted to these, and feeds less on grain, than its 

 cosmopolitan congener. 



The call, however, is quite distinct ; it is a double {not tri-syllabic) 

 whistled note, louder and rounder than that of the Common 

 Quail. It may be heard at all times of the year, but it is only 

 sporadically that they call, except during the breeding season, 

 and then their cheery call resounds on all sides from long before 



