THE MALAY BUSTARD QUAIL. 
337 
lead one to suppose that the sexes differ. Mr. Hume^ however,, is doubtless 
correct ^, 
The legs and feet vary from pale fleshy white to light lead-colour ; the 
bills from leaden white to lavender or plumbeous ; the irides are light 
yellow to straw-white. (Hume.) 
Length 5*5 inches^ tail 1*2^ wing 3^ tarsus '8^ bill from gape '55. The 
female is rather larger. 
I procured a pair of the Little Button-Quail near the town of Pegu. It 
seems to be rare^ for I only met with it on that one occasion. These two 
specimens agree well with others from India. It has not yet been obtained 
in any other part of Burmah. 
It is spread over nearly the whole of the peninsula of India^ and it will 
probably be found in suitable localities in the tract of country lying between 
India and British Burmah. Mr. Swinhoe found it abundant in the island 
of Formosa. 
This species appears to frequent thick herbage and the outskirts of 
gardens and brushwood ; it is found in pairs and not in coveys. In India 
it breeds in the rains^ laying four eggs in a depression in the ground ; 
they are yellowish^ marked minutely all over with brown of various shades. 
691. TURNIX PLUMBIPES. 
THE MALAY BUSTARD QUAIL. 
Hemipodius plumbipes, Hodgs. Beng. Sport, Mag. ix. p. 345. Turnix plum- 
bipes, Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 654 ; Bl. ^ Wald. B. Biirm. p. 152 ; Oates, S. 
F. V. p. 164 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 673 ; Kume ^ Dav, S. F. vi. p. 450 ; 
Hume, iS. F. viii. p. Ill ; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 350 ; Hume Sf Marsh. Game Birds, 
ii. p. 177, pi. ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 236. Turnix ocellatus (Scop.), Jerd. B. Ind. 
ii. p. 597. Turnix pugnax {Temm.), Hume, S. F. ill. p. 178. 
Description. — Male. Plumage above a mixture of rufous and black with 
pale yellow streaks ; below rufescent_, turning to chestnut on the flanks 
and under tail-coverts^ the fore neck^ breast and sides of the body lunated 
with black. 
The female is much larger and also darker above ; the crown and sides 
of the head^ the sides and back of the neck are spotted with white ; the 
chin, throat and breast black ; the sides of the breast and body lunated 
with black. 
* But it may be well to note that Mr. Swinhoe (P. Z. S. 1871, p. 401) states that the 
females of this species that he prociued in Formosa were similar in plumage to the males 
but larger. 
VOL. II. 2 
