THE INDO-MALAYAN BUSTARD-QUAIL. l8l 



It will be seen that this species does average larger than the 



Indian form, and, I may add, that as a rule the soft parts are 

 paler coloured. 



The plate (name wrongly spelled) gives a fair idea of the 

 species, though the irides are all too yellow for this species, and 

 most of the birds are made to stand too high on their legs. 

 Moreover, the right-hand bird in the back-ground is painted 

 redder on the back than even the reddest of those abnor- 

 mal immature birds to which I have already referred when deal- 

 ing with taigoor. 



Colonel Tickell, who doubts the specific distinctness of the 

 two forms, remarks : — " The deepest coloured are found in the 

 Malay Peninsula and all along the sea-board of Siam, and 

 through the Tenasserim provinces, Burma and Aracan, into 

 the Khasia Hills and the Eastern Hemala, this bird is met 

 with, but growing lighter as it ranges north." 



This, however, is really not the case. I have before me a 

 huge series, and I find birds from the Khasia Hills, Sikhim, and 

 Nepal as dark as any from Salangor Johore ; and again I have 

 one or two birds from these localities actually lighter than any 

 from Continental India. Whatever the specific value of the form, 

 it exhibits no local gradation either in colour or size from 

 Sikhim to Singapore. 



