PERDICULA ASIATIC A. 
753 
1 am again at a disadvantage in having no South-Indian specimens for comparison with my Ceylonese series. Judging 
from results obtained by comparing North-Iudian and insular birds, I should say that the latter almost constituted 
a darker race, the only specimen that I have seen approaching them as to depth of colouring being a male labelled 
Behar in the’ British Museum. It measures 3-2 inches in the wing, and is nearly as dark above as my Eastern- 
Province skins ; but there is more rufous on the forehead ; the throat is as dark as the latter, but the thighs and 
under tail-coverts are darker ferruginous. A male from Euttehgurh, collected by Mr. Anderson, is altogether a paler 
bird, for, in addition to the back being a pale grey-brown without a trace of mesial stripes, the rufous eye-stripe and 
throat, and the barring of the chest, together with the black scapular-patches and the central stripes, are very much 
lighter in colour : and the bars, which are much closer than in my skins, are continued down to the belly instead of 
the lower breast, beneath which part the Ceylon bird is only marked with transverse pencillings. The same rufous 
feature on the forehead is observable that I have noticed in the Behar skin, and t is is cause y e eye s ripe 
being much broader at its commencement near the nostril, and thus uniting acioss the ore lea . ap am ea\ an 
gives the measurements of specimens shot at Morar as follows:— Length 6-0 to 0-5 inches ; wing 3-0 to 3-12 ; tail 
1-5 to 1-75 ; tarsus 0’87 to 0-93 ; bill from gape 0-5. 
I have not had the advantage of seeing any females from the continent, and therefore cannot speak on any points ot 
difference in their case. 
Perdicula argomdah, the Rock Bush-Quad, is recognized by the front of the crown and forehead being rufous, by .the 
feathers at the end of the rufous cap on the top of the head being tipped with black, and by the absence of stripes 
on the scapulars and back : there is a white stripe immediately over the eye and also above the red stripe, as in 
P. asiaticn ; the throat and face are pale sienna reddish. The upper surface is characterized by the barmy of the 
feathers ; but examples from various parts of India appear to vary in their markings. Two males from Eutteh- 
gurh are very handsomely clouded with black and rich buff on the back, scapulars, and tcrtials, which coloration 
on the hind neck takes the form of bars. Another from Ahmedabad has but little of the black marking, the ground- 
colour dappled grey and black, with whitish-buff bars on the hind neck and back ; the fore neck and breast are 
white, closely barred with black, as in P. asiatiea, 
I have followed Messrs. Gray and Hume in applying Latham’s name to the present species, and not to the Rock Bush- 
Quail, as did Jerdon. Latham’s description, to which I have referred, appears to apply sufficiently well. 
Distribution. Layard first recorded the existence of what we may conclude was this species in Ceylon. 
He speaks of it in his notes as follows : — “I have only seen one pair of these elegant little Partridges ; they 
were caught alive at Cotta, near Colombo. I have an egg, which can only belong to this bird, also found in 
the same locality.” That the Jungle Bush-Quail should occur in the Western Province is a matter of surprise 
to the author, for it is a species which belongs to the dry districts of the island, and has never been heard of, 
to my knowledge, on the south-western side by any one, except on the occasion in question. It inhabits the 
grassy jungles in the Park country, and those of the Wegam and Medagam Patuwas, which constitute the 
extensive district lying along the base of the Madulsima ranges. I found it very numerous in the months of 
August and September between Kaloday and Bibile on the new Batticaloa road. I am not aware for certain 
how far it extends towards the Hambantota district, but I believe it is fouud not far from Yala. I did not 
see it in the Wellaway Koralc, nor in the neighbourhood of Kattregama. It is probably a bird of local distri- 
bution, confining itself to strips and tracts of country throughout the Eastern Province, whose grassy glades are 
combined with clumps of open forest, and not passing beyond barriers of heavy jungle; in support of which 
belief I may mention that it seems to be shut in by the belt of forest lying between Kaloday and the Maha-oya, 
to the eastward of which I saw no trace of it. It was not met with anywhere above 1000 feet elevation. 
Jerdon writes “This pretty little Bush-Quail is extensively distributed throughout India, atul is found 
at all levels, from the sea-coast up to nearly 5000 feet of elevation. In the south of India it is chiefly found 
in the more wooded districts in Malabar, Mysore, on the Eastern Ghats, and on the various lull-ranges, being 
rare in the low Carnatic and bare land. Col. Sykes found it on the higher ranges of the Western Ghats at 
4000 feet, and it is found throughout Central India as far as the northern slopes of the Rajmehal, Monghyr, 
and Mirzapore hills. It is not generally found on the north bank of the Ganges; but Hodgson cites it as 
found in the sub-Himalayan zone.” Mr. Hume enumerates the localities whence he has obtained it as ‘Simla, 
the Hhoon Umballa, Mount Aboo, Anadra, at the foot of Aboo ; Etawah, Mirzapore ; Seoni, Central Provinces ; 
Nu in ore Raipur valley of the Tapti, West Kandeish, Mahabaleshwar ; Kelsi, Bankok, and other localities 
in the Southern Korkan; Madras and Pothanore.” C iptain Bcavan records it as tolerably abundant in 
