O F ITS nidification nothing seems to have been as yet recorded,
but this cannot differ materially from that of its close ally,
T.joudera, though the eggs will doubtless average larger.
T H E F O L L O W I N G are the dimensions and colours of the soft
parts of a male and a female :—
Male.—Length, 6'5 ; expanse, I 2 ' 0 ; tail from vent, i'5 ; wing,
3'62 ; tarsus, I'o ; bill from gape, 075 ; weight, 2'25 oz.
Female.—Length, TO ; expanse, I3'5 ; tail from vent, 1-5;
wing, 4" 12 ; tarsus, r o 5 ; bill from gape, 075 ; weight, 275 ozs.
The male had the legs, feet, and claws chrome yellow ; upper
mandible dark horny brown; lower mandible pale brown;
hides, in three birds, white.
The female had the legs, feet, and claws chrome yellow ; lower
mandible, gape, and base of upper mandible chrome yellow ;
rest of bill reddish brown ; hides white.
Other specimens differ somewhat in dimensions ; the wings of
males vary from 3'4 to nearly 37, and the wings of females
from 3-8 to 412.
THE TLATE is a very pretty picture, and the figure in the
background is an absolutely perfect likeness of the particular
specimen figured ; the two figures in the foreground are also
portraits, except that the red on the tertiaries of both, and the
breast of the left hand one, is a wrong tint and should be a
bright buff with, on the breast, a ferruginous tint. But though
on the whole excellent likenesses of the particular birds figured,
and giving, I hope, some idea of the character of the markings,
this species, like its Indian representative, is so excessively
variable, that I have now before me seven other specimens all
differing materially from each other and not one of them agreeing
at all closely with an)* of the specimens figured.
First let me say that, so far as plumage goes, both this species
and joudera are inseparable. At any rate nine out of ten varia-
\
tion, but it is very rare, being only occasionally met with, and
always singly or in pairs. It is hard to flush, and only flies
a short distance before again dropping, but it then runs a considerable
distance before halting, and thereafter lies very close.
It feeds like the other Quails in the mornings and evenings,
lying hid during the heat of the day. On cloudy or rainy days
it moves about all day. I do not know the call of this species."
The fact is, that it is apparently everywhere thinly distributed,
that it is a terrible skulk, only to be flushed by chance without
the aid of dogs, and is, I gather, as a rule, a very silent bird.
Specimens examined had eaten grain, seeds, small insects and
tiny green shoots.
tions in tint, amount and extent of markings, &c., in this species,
can be exactly matched in specimens of joudera and vice versd.
Therefore the figures of this species may be taken as representing
also types of plumage of joudera, while the figures
of this latter exhibit types of plumage common to the present
species (maculosus) likewise.
For be it understood that, though there is a marked difference
in size, I can discover no other constant difference between
the two species.
If you have two or three specimens only of each, the birds
are so variable that the chances arc against any one of either
corresponding closely with any one of the other ; but if you
have, say twenty of each, at least ten of either will be counterparts
of ten of the others, and five will be fairly matchable.
The difference in size is great. In the Indian birds the wings
of males vary from 3*0 to 3'25, and those of the females from
3'3 T O 3'5 5- But unless the birds have been sexed, it seems to
me impossible to separate large females of joudera from small
males of maculosus. Whether, under these circumstances, and
having regard to the different geographical areas occupied by
the two forms, it is desirable to treat them as distinct species, is
a matter of opinion.
Generally I may say that, so far as I am able to judge, the
plumage of the sexes does not differ. The extraordinary variations
observable are due, it appears to me, to differences in age.
As far as I can make out, the younger birds have the upper
surfaces profusely marked with ferruginous red, black, and
sometimes more or less of buff on a grey brown ground, and
they have only a trace of the rufous collar. Gradually the markings
on the mantle grow fainter and fainter, till it becomes a
nearly uniform grey brown, not so blue as is depicted in Vieillot's
figure, but still a somewhat grey brown. As this change
takes place, the red collar comes out strongly, as shown in the
figure referred to. The spottings on the wings diminish in size,
and the markings on the head become brown instead of
black.
On the lower surface, in the younger birds, the sides of the
breast are a grey, at times somewhat olivaceous, brown, of which,
however, little is seen, as the feathers are broadly tipped with
buff and have a large black spot inside this tipping. As the
bird gets older, these spottings almost entirely disappear from
the sides of the breast, a few only remaining on the sides of
the upper abdomen. Vicillot figures an old, but by no means
a very old, bird, and in no specimen are the tertiaries, scapulars,
and back the blue grey he has depicted them. Had the ground
colour of these parts been brown with a grey shade, his picture
would have accurately represented some specimens before me ;
but, as a rule in birds at that stage, the markings on the head
would have been dark brown and not black.