FRANCO LINUS PICTUS. 
745 
opposite spots situated near the margins of the webs ; on the breast and lower flanks these markings change into 
bars ; under tail-coverts dark cinnamon-rufous ; under wing-coverts fulvous, barred with dark brown, greater 
series light brown. 
Female (Wellemade, Ceylon). Length 11 '5 to 11-75 inches ; wing 5-3 to 5-7 ; tail 2-9 to 3-1 ; tarsus 1-6 ; middle toe 
and claw 1-3 ; bill to gape 1-0 to 1-1. , . . , 
Iris yellow-brown ; bill brownish, the under mandible fleshy, with the Up dusky ; legs and feet yellowish red; claws 
Lores,’ tee, and ear-coverts tawnv rufous, extending high over the eye; centre of forehead head, and nape brown, 
narrowly edged with tawny; chin and throat bully white; centre of the hind neck dark brown, the feathers 
broadly edged with buff ; lower part of the hind neck with white marginal spots, lengthening out into s re i 
the interscapular region ; back blackish brown, crossed with narrow pale wavy mar 'S, w ici mu ease m real i 
and become white on the tail-coverts ; wing-coverts barred and margined near the tips o e ea ers W1 ^ ) 
yellow ; quills not so black as in the male, barred with rufous tawny ; the tertials with spear-shaped cross marks 
and edges of yellowish buff ; under surface whitish; fore neck marked with arrow-shaped bars, and the rest ol me 
underparts, except the belly and vent, crossed with broad irregular bands of black, the lower flanks tingec w i l 
bull ; abdomen greyish white ; under tail-coverts as in the male. _ , 
The female differs from the male in the less conspicuous marking of the hind neck and the interscapular region, anc m 
the somewhat different character of the markings of the chest and fore neck. 
Young. Immature birds have the legs and feet duskier than the adult. 
The subterminal lateral stripes of the feathers of the back, scapulars, and tertials are paler, and the throat and under 
surface whiter ; the rufous of the under tail-coverts is not so dark as in the adult, and is barred with black. 
Ohs. I have not been able to compare a large series of continental birds with my Ceylonese specimens, and therefor e 
I am unable to say whether the differences I have observed in the two races are constant. As regards the males, 
I am, I regret to say, not in a position to offer any opinion, as all my efforts to procure a male were unsuccessful, 
and my friends who promised to help me in the matter have not as yet sent me any specimens. The few birds 
which I shot on two occasions were all females or young birds. Females from India, however, though resembling 
their insular relatives in most respects, differ in being more rufescent beneath, and the bars on the chest are closer 
and not so pointed at the centre ; the markings on the hind neck resemble more those of the male than in the 
Ceylon bird, being more in the form of spots than longitudinal bands. _ 
I submitted my specimens to Captain C. H. Marshall, one of our greatest authorities on Indian game-birds, when he was 
lately in England ; and his opinion was that, though differing in these slight respects, they could not well be speci- 
fically separated from the Indian form. A comparison of the males, however, is necessary before we can be certain 
about the matter; and should the Ceylon race eventually prove distinct, I would propose for its title the name 
watsoni, after Col. Watson, one of the oldest sportsmen in Ceylon, who was perhaps the first ever to procure 
It appears that this species and the Black Partridge (F. vulgaris) interbreed in the north-west of India. Captain Butler 
describes hybrid specimens, which he obtained in the Deesa district, in the seventh volume of ‘ Stray leathers 
(1877, p. 211) ; and one of them 1 have had the opportunity of seeing, owing to the kindness of Captain Marshall. 
It has the centres of the frontal feathers, a broad fine passing from the nostril through the eye and down the 
sides of the head, the chin, together with the tips of the throat-feathers and the ground-colour of the chest and 
breast jet-lladc ; the lower hind-neek feathers are jet-black, with the spots quite circular, and the abdomen and 
vent more rufescent than in F. pictus. 
The male F. vulgaris has the throat, face, neck, chest, breast, and most of the flank-feathers, together with a broad 
eye-stripe, jet-black ; cheeks and ear-coverts white, and round the neck a collar of chestnut ; back and rump barred 
black ; under tail-coverts chestnut. The female is not unlike F. pictus in general appearance, but has the chestnut 
collar, whereby it can at once be distinguished. 
Distribution . — The Painted Partridge inhabits the patna-hills which form the upland basin lying between 
the western slopes of the Nuwara-Eliya range and Badulla in the one direction, and the Udu-pusselawa hills 
and the Haputale range in the other. It is also found about Ilaputale and Haldamulla, and on the subsidiary 
patna-hills between Lemastota and Wellaway. Its range, therefore, is extraordinarily restricted, as tar as we 
know at present. In the last-mentioned district Mr. Bligh has observed it ; and it is very probable that it may 
extend westward into the hilly country which forms the elevated grassy and openly-timbered plateau situated 
