1 HI UOTU NUTCi 0M1L 



Turnix dussumieri, Temminck 



Vernacular Nam©S.— [Chotalowa, Dubki, Turra (Hindustani); Chimnaj. i^tfm ; 

 Libbia, Purneah ; Tatu-buteyra, »SzW; Durwi (Mahrathi), Ratnagiri ; Chinna 

 (or tella) dabba gundlu, (Telegu) ; San gundlu, O/wa ;] 



HE Little Button Quail is a comparatively common 

 and widely-distributed species, and yet I am unable 

 . to define its range with any precision. 



It has not been recorded from any part of British 

 Burma, Tenasserim, Pegu or Aracan, nor have I 

 any record of its occurrence in Chittagong or Tip- 

 perah, or any part of Assam, except the Khasia Hills, 

 and it is rare,* I think, in the low deltaic districts of Bengal. 



Again, I cannot ascertain that it has been observed in 

 Ceylon f or in the southernmost districts of the Peninsula, or, 

 in fact (though it doubtless does so occur), anywhere south 

 of Mysore. Lastly, I do not know whether this species extends 

 into the Trans-Indus portions of the Punjab. 



Excluding these outlying regions (in some of which it will 

 certainly prove to occur), the Little Button Quail is found in 

 suitable localities throughout the less-elevated portions of the 

 rest of the Empire, extending in summer into the valleys and 

 lower ranges of the Himalayas up to an elevation of about 

 6,000 feet from Sikhim to, at any rate, as far west as Simla, 

 close to which, at Syree, I have myself procured it. 



I am inclined to believe that it is only a monsoon visitant to 

 the greater portion of the Punjab and Rajputana, to Sind, and 

 probably Cutch and Kathiawar also. 



I said above, advisedly, " suitable localities," because it avoids 

 wet swampy tracts, whilst they are this, though it may be found 

 even in jhils when they and the surrounding country have dried 

 up ; because it equally eschews the more arid, semi-desert 



* Mr. H. J. Rainey remarks:— "In the Jessore district it is a permanent re- 

 sident. Not numerous. Breeds during the rains, I believe. It lies very close, and 

 I have frequently seen natives capture it by throwing a cloth over and around the 

 spot in the grass on which it has been seen to drop after being flushed." 



+ Mr. A. Whyte, however, writes that "a very small Button Quail is reported 

 from the highest Patena grounds in the island, but I have never succeeded in 

 procuring a specimen." So possibly this species does occur in Ceylon. 



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