1837.] On two new Genera of llasorial Birds, 303 



Colour. Black, transversely lineated with white, which is irregularly 

 smeared, especially in summer, with a rusty or chesnut* tinge. Chest 

 and flanks, intense red brown, nearly the hue of the ripe chssnut fruit,* 

 and largely picked out on the flanks with white, forming a broad margin 

 to each plume. Lower tail coverts paler than the flanks, and edged 

 with black within their pale tips. Prime quills immaculate and dusky : 

 secondaries, largely whitened towards their ends. Bill and legs, in- 

 tense coral red, smeared with dusky in young and in moulting birds. 

 Nails dusky. Iris pale brown. A white patch under the wing, next 

 the body* 



PERDICINJEJ. 



Genus Arborophila nobis. 

 Type. Perdix Olivacea Lathami f 

 Piora of the Nipalese. Hill partridge and painted partridge of 

 Kuropeans. 



Arborophila olivacea nobis. 



Bill equal to the head, or nearly so, slender ; the maxilla more than 

 half cut out by a large membranous nareal tect, in which the advanced 

 nares are opened longitudinally, near to the cutting edge, by an elliptic 

 lateral downward cleft. Wings short, bowed and gradated, with the 

 5th quill longest. Tail 14, drooped, somewhat feeble, extremely 

 rounded and concealed by the coverts. Legs and feet large. Tarsi 

 elevate, unspurred, nude.' Toes long; exterior lateral conspicuously 

 larger than the inner. Nails lengthened and straightened. Cheeks 

 invested with a red skin, which is nude in the orbitar region. 



Habitat— Central and lower regions of these hills, as well as most 

 of the hilly districts of the Bengal presidency. 



Habits and manners— Exclusively a forester, inhabiting the interior 

 of deep woods, and perching as freely as a pheasant. Gregarious in 

 coveys, breeds on the earth, feeds on the ground and on trees, eating 

 berries, seeds and insects. Intestines and caeca longer than, in Perdix, 

 with a large powerful gizzard. Has a shrill twittering call. Is very 

 timid and not at all pugnacious. Affinities, various; chiefly with Per- 

 dix; not determinable in the present state of Rasorial classification. f 



Structure and size — Twelve ounces in weight, twelve inches long, by 

 18 to 19 in expanse. Bill 1. Tail 2! to 3. Tarsus 2. Central toe 

 1 T ^_. Hind .JL. Bill equal to the head, remarkable for slenderness 

 and straightness, as well as for the size, soft tect and advanced posi- 



* Chesnut, the colour of the horse, is very different from chesnut, the colour of the 

 fruit. 



i- Two pair only of false ribs. Scapula feeble and cylindrical. Sternum produced to the 

 articulation of hip joints : its keel, high. Cervical and dorsal vertebra; 13 and 7, as before. 



