GALLOPERDIX LUNULOSA.
Painted Spur-Fowl.
Per dix lunulosa, Valenc. (Blyth).
lunulatus, Valenc. Noiiv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat.—Gray.
Hardwic/cii, Gray in Griff. An. Kingd. vol. iii. p. 48Gray, 111. Ind. Zool. vol. i. pi. 52.—Frankl. in Proc.
o f Comm, of Sei. and Corr. of Zool. Soc. part i. p. 123.
lunulata, Cuv. Mus. Paris.
nivosus, Deless. Rev. Zool. 1840, p . 100.—Ib. Mag. de Zool. 1840, Ois. pi. 18.—lb. Voy. aux Indes,
pl. 10.
----------------Hardwickü, Jerd. 111. Ind. Om. pl. Ixii.
Francolinus lunulata, Less. Traité d’Om. p. 504.
Ithaginis Imulatus, Gray and Mitch. Gen. o f Birds, vol. iii. p. 504, Ithaginis, sp. 2.—Gray, List o f Birds in Brit.
Mus. Coll. part iii. p. 32.
Galloperdix lunulosa, Blyth, Cat. o f Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 241.
Curria Partridge, Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. viii. p. 270 ?
Sitta Kodi, Telugu, Jerdon.
T he native habitat o f this handsomely-marked species of Spur-Fowl is the jangled Ghauts o f Southern India,
over which, if it be not universally, it is very generally dispersed, as is evidenced by specimens received
through various sources from those districts. It is said to extend its range, but in smaller numbers, as far
north as Scinde. The Hon. F. J. Shore found it at Jubulpoor in April 1835 and at Sagur in .1836, and
drawings of both sexes accompany the notes of that highly talented gentleman, but for whose premature
death the ornithology o f India would have been far better known to us.
In the early part of 1853 a living example o f this fine bird was brought to England, and for many months
graced the menagerie of the Zoological Society in the Regent’s Park, where it did not fail to attract the
notice o f the visitors generally; its sprightly actions and beautiful markings rendering it a conspicuous
object among the other denizens of the great aviary in the South Garden. When in’a state of quietude
and repose, it usually stood in the attitude of the front figure in the accompanying Plate ; at other times,
especially when excited or on the alert, it assumed a more sprightly air, and carried the tail higher than the
line o f the body, like the front figure of Galloperdioc Zeylonensis.
We are indebted to Mr. Jerdon of Madras for the greatest amount of information we possess respecting
this species. In his “ Illustrations of Indian Ornithology,” in which the female is figured for, I believe, the
first time, he says,—
“ In Southern India I have only found this very handsome Spur-Fowl in the jungles o f the eastern Ghauts,
and in some of the spurs that jut out from them both above and below. M. Delessert procured it in the
neighbourhood of Pondicherry. I obtained many specimens from the Ghauts inland from Nellore, and I
have been told that it is found near Bellary, Cuddapah, and Hyderabad. Farther north I never saw it, from
Goomsoor, and it is unknown in Bengal and the Himalayas. General Hardwicke procured it, I believe, in
the north-west of India.
“ It associates in small flocks, keeping to the low shrubs and brushwood, and seeking its food among
fallen leaves and low herbage. I kept several individuals of this species alive for some time, and found
that it is a most pugnacious and quarrelsome bird. It carries its tail erect like the Jungle Fowl, to which
the natives invariably assert its affinity, as they also do F. spadiceus.
“ I have found that both the spotted and common Spur-Fowl feed much on insect food in the wild state,
especially on the larvae o f two or three kinds of wood-bug (Reduoius'), so abundant in most of our jungles.”
The Hon. Mr. Shore mentions that some specimens he had dressed, although in fine condition, were
poor in flavour, and that the female weighed barely nine ounces.
The male has the head and neck black, with a streak down the stem and a spot of white near the tip of
each feather; upper surface rich dark chestnut, with a spot of white encircled with black at the tip of each