338 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
The legs^ feet and claws are slaty or leaden blue or plumbeous^ the claws 
often paler; the bill varies through the same shades and is often^ not 
always^ tinged brownish on the culmen or even on all but the basal portions 
of the upper mandible ; the irides are pearly^ ashy or dirty white j eyelids 
plumbeous grey. [Hume.) 
Length 6 inches_, tail 1, wing 3*2, tarsus -9, bill from gape '7. The 
female is much larger_, the wing measuring 3" 5 or more. 
I have very strong doubts whether the Indian race T. taigoor can be 
separated from the present one. I can myself find no character by which 
they can be separated with certainty. Mr. Hume^ however^ whose oppor- 
tunities for observation have been greater than mine^ states that in 
T, plumbipes the prevailing tint of the interscapulary region and back is 
brown ; in T. taigoor the prevailing tint of these parts is rufous^ and this 
diflPerence extends more or less to the head and the whole upper plumage. 
This character can hardly be considered a satisfactory one ; but for the 
present I accept it and keep the two races distinct. 
No definite conclusions with regard to these Quails can be arrived at 
without the examination of large series ; and having examined only two 
specimens of the Javan Quail of this type^ T. pugnaos, I cannot be certain 
that it is identical with Burmese birds. Lord Walden some years ago 
asserted that the two were not quite the same^ and consequently I prefer 
to retain the Burmese birds under Mr. Hodgson''s name. 
The Malay Bustard Quail is found sparingly over the whole Province 
and Karennee_, chiefly^, but not entirely^, in the plains and lower hills. It 
occurs throughout the Indo-Burmese countries^ extending into Bengal and 
along the Himalayas as far as the Jumna river. It is also met with in 
Siam^ Cochin China and the Malay peninsula, and probably also in 
Sumatra. 
It frequents gardens, land covered with grass and bushes, and roadsides ; 
goes about singly or in pairs, and is a constant resident. 
I found the nests in Pegu during August and November ; they were 
merely depressions in the ground in gardens near a bush, lined with a little 
grass and a few leaves ; and the eggs, in every case four in number, were 
buff thickly speckled with blackish. 
The three Burmese species of Turnix may be distinguished at a glance 
from the Quails of the genera Coturmx and Excalfactoria by the absence 
of a hind toe. 
The following characters will further assist in distinguishing these three 
species. A Quail with a black throat and breast will be female T. plumbipes ; 
one with the fore neck and breast completely barred across with black will 
be male T. plumbipes. 
The remaining two species, in both sexes, have the fore neck and centre 
of the breast immaculate rufous ; and while T. dussumieri is of very small 
