Genus HEMIPODIUS, Temm. 



Gen. Char. Beak moderate, slender, straight, very compressed; culmen elevated and curved 

 towards the point. Nostrils lateral, linear, longitudinally cleft, partly closed by a naked 

 membrane. Tarsi rather long. Toes three before, entirely divided: no posterior toe. 

 Tail composed of weak yielding feathers clustered together, and concealed by the feathers 

 of the back. Wings moderate, the first quill-feather the longest. 



ANDALUSIAN TURNIX. 



Hemipodius tachydromus, Temm. 

 La Turnix tachy drome. 



The birds of this genus are mostly inhabitants of the intertropical regions of the Old World ; two species, it 

 is true, have been discovered in the southern parts of Europe, but in such limited numbers as to prove satis- 

 factorily that the northern portions of Africa are their true habitat, consequently the southern parts of Spain, 

 Italy, and the Islands of the Mediterranean are among the utmost limits of its range northward. They differ 

 from the true Quails (Coturnioc), in the total absence of the hind toe, and in the long and slender form of 

 their bills : they are the most diminutive birds of the gallinaceous tribe, being not more than half the size of 

 the Common Quail. M. Temminck states that they are polygamous, and that they give a preference to sterile 

 lands, sandy plains, and the confines of deserts, over which they run with surprising quickness ; he also states 

 that the young and old do not associate in company or in bevies as is the case with the Quail. Their food is 

 said to consist principally of insects, to which are added small seeds, &c. 



The sexes are so much alike that it is very difficult to distinguish them by their plumage. Col. Sykes 

 states that the birds of this genus which he observed in the Dukhun, viz. Hem. pugnax, Temm., Hem. 

 Taigoor, Sykes, and Hem. Dussumier, Temm., were either solitary or in pairs, and mostly found in pulse and 

 Chillee fields (Capsicum annuum)." The last-named species "frequents thick grass, and sits so close as to 

 expose itself to the danger of being trodden upon," and its " flight is so abrupt and short, that ere the gun 

 is well up to the shoulder the bird is down again," in all which respects we doubt not the bird here repre- 

 sented very closely resembles them. 



The Andalusian Turnix is tolerably abundant at Gibraltar and that part of Spain which borders the Medi- 

 terranean, being more scarce in the central portions, and in the northern and all similar latitudes altogether 

 absent. 



The top of the head is dark brown, streaked longitudinally with reddish yellow ; throat white ; the feathers 

 on the sides of the chest reddish chestnut, those of the flanks yellowish white, with a crescent-shaped mark 

 of rich brown occupying the centre of each ; lower part of the belly pure white ; the upper surface is dark 

 brown with numerous zigzag lines of reddish ash, and transversely rayed with lines of brown and chestnut, 

 each feather being finely margined with white ; coverts of the wing yellow with a spot of reddish chestnut on 

 the inner web ; primaries ashy brown, the outer web bordered with white ; bill and legs greyish flesh colour. 



The Plate represents a male and female of the natural size. 



