THE BLUE-BREASTED QUAIL 
Excalfadoria chinensis chinemis {Linn,) 
Malay name : — Pikati. 
Description: — The male is a handsome gaudy Itttle bird 
quite unmistakeable in appearance. The upper parts arc brown 
with conspicuous black bars and a few thin, pate streaks. The 
chin and throat are black and just below the throaty on the fore- 
neck* is a largfe crescent shaped white patch. The imderparts 
are mostly bluish-slate in colour but the centre of the breast 
and the abdomen are bright rufous. 
The female is quite different in appearance and is a dowdy 
bird lacking all the bright colours of her mate. The upper 
parts are similar to those of the male but the throat is white 
and the whole of the rest of the underparts are buffy in colour 
barred with black on the breast and flanks. There is no sign 
of the handsome white bib, the bluish-slate or the rich rufous 
of the male. 
The iris is red {brown in the female), the bill black, slaty 
in parts and the Jegs yelIow\ 
Length about St ^ inches; wing inches. 
Mr. Stuart Baker ("The Game Birds of India, Burma and 
Ceylon") gives the weight as rj to 2 oz. 
Distribution: — India, Burma, Siam and southern Asia 
generally, throughout the Malay Peninsula and up to Formosa ; 
through the eastern islands to Australia. This range covers 
areas occupied by birds which the systematist regards as dis- 
tinct but for the purposes of this book it may be said that the 
little blue-breasted quail ranges from India to Australia. 
In the Malay Peninsula it is common on ground overgrown 
with lalang grass, in the agncnhural districts, flat ground and 
paddy fields and> as could be expected, is not normally found 
in the heavily wooded areas. 
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