PERDICULA ASIATICA.
Asiatic Bush-Quail.
Perdix asiaticus, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 649.
Asiatic Partridge, Lath. Gen, Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 278.— Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. viii. p. 281.
Cotumix rubiginosa, Gray and Mitch. Gen. o f B irds, vol. iii. p. 507.
Cotumix Pentah, Sykes, in Proc. o f Comm, of Sci. and Corr. o f Zool. S o c , p a rt ii. p. 153.— Id. Trans. Zool. Soc.,
vol. ii. p. 19, pi. 3.—Jerd. Madras Joum. of Lit. and Sci., vol. xii. p. 6.
Perdicttla asiatica, Blyth, Cat. o f Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 254.—Adams in Proc. Zool. Soc., p a r t xxvi.
p. 504.—Blyth, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xx. p. 322.
Lowa, Hind, Blyth.
Thebe are no birds more puzzling to the ornithologist than the two species of little Bush-Quails inhabiting
India, for which Mi*. Blyth has proposed the generic name of Penlicula—the variation in their colouring
and markings being almost infinite, and running one into the other in such a manner that it is impossible
to separate a collection of specimens into their proper species with any degree of certainty; every ornithologist,
however, admits that there are two distinct species inhabiting the peninsula of India—one, the
P . asiatica, being very generally dispersed over the greater part of the country, while the other, P . argoondah,
occurs in the Madras Presidency and some of the south-western provinces. The males of both species are
said to have their breasts strongly crescented with black on a white ground, while the adult female is of a
uniform huffy brown ; or if the uniformity be broken, it is only by an increase of colour in the gorget. The
young during the first year, and probably for a longer period, have their backs mottled and freckled with
markings of brown and buff in an infinite variety of forms.
“ These birds,” says Col. Sykes, speaking of the Bush-Quails of the Dukhun, “ are met with only on the
mountains, on the slopes and sides of which they rise in coveys from amidst reeds and long grass and brushwood,
with the same startling whirl, uttering cries of alarm, as C. argoondah. My specimens were shot at
4000 feet above the sea.”
Dr. Adams, on the other hand, states that it “ frequents the valleys of the lower ranges of the Western
Himalayas, is gregarious and migratory. Its food consists of small seeds, such as mustard. Rises with a
quick whirring noise; flies only a short distance, frequently dropping into the nearest bush, where it secretes
itself. I have not seen this species on the plains of India.”
Mr. Jerdon says, “ It is an inhabitant o f all the forests of S. India, and also occasionally and more
sparingly found in low jungles and wooded nullahs in the. Carnatic and other regions. It is found a t all
levels, from the neighbourhood of the sea to the summits of the lofty mountains of the Western Ghauts.”
The following is, I believe, a correct description of the two sexes.
The male has the forehead, a broad stripe over the eye, and the throat-gorget rich reddish chestnut; above
the red stripe over the eye a narrower streak of bully white; through the eye, from the base of the bill, a
narrow Ime of white, and a third narrower line below the eye of the same colour; ear-coverts brown; all the
upper surface marbled with light brown, dark brown, and buff, some of the dark markings being in small,
others in large blotches, while the paler ones assume the form o f streaks, spots, and b a rs; tail alternately
barred with irregular lines of black and rich buff; breast, abdomen, and flanks numerously and
alternately barred with black and greyish white; vent, thighs, and under tail-coverts pale rufous; ¡rides
dark red ; bdl slaty black, with a flesh-coloured base; legs red.
The female has the head and throat marked very like that of the male ; all the upper surface light
brown, minutely freckled with darker brown; the SGapularies and tertiaries streaked with buff, and marked
with large and conspicuous blotches of brownish black near the tip of the inner web; under surface vinous
r e d ; irides, bill, and legs as jn the male.
The Plate represents two males and a female, of the size of life.