1 84 THE BURMO-MALAYAN BUTTON-QUAIL. 



tion, but it is very rare, being only occasionally met with, and 

 always singly or in pairs. It is hard to flush, and only flies 

 a short distance before again dropping, but it then runs a consi- 

 derable distance before halting, and thereafter lies very close. 

 It feeds like the other Quails in the mornings and evenings, 

 lying hid during the heat of the day. On cloudy or rainy days 

 it moves about all day. I do not know the call of this species." 



The fact is, that it is apparently everywhere thinly distributed, 

 that it is a terrible skulk, only to be flushed by chance without 

 the aid of dogs, and is, I gather, as a rule, a very silent bird. 



Specimens examined had eaten grain, seeds, small insects and 

 tiny green shoots. 



Of ITS nidification nothing seems to have been as yet record- 

 ed, but this cannot differ materially from that of its close ally, 

 T.joudera, though the eggs will doubtless average larger. 



The following are the dimensions and colours of the soft 

 parts of a male and a female : — 



Male. — Length, 6*5 ; expanse, I2'0 ; tail from vent, 1*5 ; wing, 

 3*62 ; tarsus, ro ; bill from gape, 075 ; weight, 2*25 oz. 



Female. — Length, 7*0; expanse, 13*5; tail from vent, 1*5; 

 wing, 4*12 ; tarsus, 1*05 ; bill from gape, 075 ; weight, 275 ozs. 



The male had the legs, feet, and claws chrome yellow ; upper 

 mandible dark horny brown ; lower mandible pale brown ; 

 irides, in three birds, white. 



The female had the legs, feet, and claws chrome yellow ; lower 

 mandible, gape, and base of upper mandible chrome yellow ; 

 rest of bill reddish brown ; irides white. 



Other specimens differ somewhat in dimensions ; the wings of 

 males vary from 3*4 to nearly 37, and the wings of females 

 from 3-8 to 4*12. 



THE PLATE is a very pretty picture, and the figure in the 

 background is an absolutely perfect likeness of the particular 

 specimen figured ; the two figures in the foreground are also 

 portraits, except that the red on the tertiaries of both, and the 

 breast of the left hand one, is a wrong tint and should be a 

 bright buff with, on the breast, a ferruginous tint. But though 

 on the whole excellent likenesses of the particular birds figured, 

 and giving, I hope, some idea of the character of the markings, 

 this species, like its Indian representative, is so excessively 

 variable, that I have now before me seven other specimens all 

 differing materially from each other and not one of them agree- 

 ing at all closely with any of the specimens figured. 



First let me say that, so far as plumage goes, both this species 

 and jouder a are inseparable. At any rate nine out of ten varia- 



