THE BUSTARI^QUAIL 
In this book therefore we shall judge each case on its 
merits (an imsatisfactory method it is true for one who by 
preference works with a large scale rnap and a millimetre rule 
but apparently the only course left open). 
To g^o back to a consideration of the gfeog-raphical range 
of our bustard-quail which matter was occupying our attention 
when the above dissertation intruded itself, we find that the 
bird found in the Malay Peninsula is only very slightly diSerent 
from that occvtpying the greater part of India and Ceylon : 
to the man in the street they are one and the same bird. Thus 
we will consider the range as extending: ffom Ceylon, through 
India, Burma, Siam, China, Fomiosa, and in the south through 
the Malay Peninsula to Java and Sumatra — but not Borneo I 
In the Malay Peninsula it is a common bird, like the quail 
preferring the open spaces and lalang patches, 
Status itt Singapore : — The Bustard-quail is common in 
Singapore being found in situations similar to those inhabited 
by the bhie-breasted quail. Like this latter species it is not a 
conspicuous bird, and it would be easy to live a life-time on 
the island without seeing one although people who take their 
walks over the country-side are certain to meet with some. 
In Singapore it appears to be more numerous than the 
blue-breasted quail. Kelham (18S2) wrote: "Among the 
'lalang' grass round the barracks at Singapore, Bustard Quail 
were very common**. At the present day it would scarcely be 
accurate to say that they are very common near the barracks 
but they are still to be found there and a few pairs still breed 
close by in the Botanic Gardens. 
FIdd Notes The normal behaviour of this bfrd, under 
the circumstances with which one meets with it in Singapore 
has already been sufficiently described above under the heading 
of the blue-breasted quail. Suffice it to say that like that bird 
it is usually seen when walking across grass land. It sits 
close, flying up off the ground almost in front of one and 
after a short, low flight tumbles very abruptly into the grass 
after which it is difficult to put up a second time. As the bird 
flies away from one, or more particularly at the moment when 
it Jumps up, the bright rufous patches on the sides of its body 
form a characteristic rear-lamp revealing the owner's identity. 
[39] 
