pretty common, as it is also in suitable localities in the Sholapur
district.
Southwards again, it docs not appear* to occur much west of
the Trunk Road running from Kolhapur, via Bclgaum and Dharwar
to Sirsi; nor, in this direction, do I know for certain of its
occurrence beyond about six miles south of Sirsi.
In the Madras Presidency, I learn from Mr. Huntley P.
Gordon, Mr. Cardozo, and Captain Bellis of the 13th L. I., that
in the Bellary district it has only been observed about Ramandroog
and the Saudur jungles. Mr. Cardozo adds that he has
shot it in the Anamalai Hills of the Kurnool district, in the
Godavari and Nellore districts.
Mr. Egan again says that he has shot it in the Cuddapah and
Ncllore districts on both sides of the Eastern Ghats.
It appears also to occur in hilly semi-jungle country, and
where there is much grass in the Kistna, and other more northern
districts right up to the Goomsur talukaof the Ganjam district.
It seems almost entirely absent from Mysore. Jerdon had
heard of its being obtained near Bangalore, but I have obtained
* For the following valuable note on this point I am indebted to Captain T. M.
Ward :—
" The bird appears to be a lover of a semi-jungle country, but so far as I have
observed, it docs not extend west waul beyond a well-defined line, which I will mention
further on.
'' I do not know anything of the country between Poona and Satara, or Satara and
Kolhapur, but I have often been told that the bird abounds about the latter place,
ami I know it is found near Belgaum. I have heard and seen it along the road
from Belgaum to Dharwar, the whole way, and in the compounds of Dharwar itself;
and to the west of the station it is very common. So it is along the whole of the
western side of the Dharwar Collectorate, but it seems to extend very little further
east than the limit of rice cultivation and the edge of the jungles.
From Tadas (old style Tttrxus) to Mundgod, and at Mundgod itself, and down
to Pala. I have found it. It is also to be met with close to Sirsi, and a few miles
south of that place, along the Sirsi and Siddiipur road ; but I am pretty sure that
it docs not extend further to the west, or at all events very little, than the made
road from Tadas to Sirsi. I have camped at four or five different places near the
load from Sixsi to Ycllapur, and never seen or heard it theic, nor at Kirwatti, where
I have often been on shooting expeditions, though I should think the latter place,
which is only just beyond the Dharwar frontier, would be but little out of its
range.
" The line which it seems to have chosen then, is from Kolhapur to Sirsi, along
the Trunk Road rid Belgaum and Dharwar, and I think I may say but little west of
that road, and I believe too, but little east either, as a rule. But in this matter a
good deal depends on soil and cultivation. It does not appear to like black soil,
and it seems to be necessary to its existence that water and bush cover should be
abundant."
On this latter point Mr. Vidal remarks :—
" Captain Ward says it avoids black soil, but at any rate it is found in Tasgaon
in the middle of the cotton country, and mostly in sugar cover." He adds :—•
" Sidddpur is just 20 miles south of Sirsi within the Kanara boundary.
" J'd.'a is 21 miles north-east of Sirsi; also in Kanara.
u Mundgod is 14 miles due north of FtUa, also in Kanara.
" Kirwatti is 30 miles north of Sirsi, also in Kanara.
" Tadas is 18 miles north-east of Mundgod, and 30 miles south of Dharwar, and
is in the Dharwar district.
" All these places, except Tadas, are on or close to the boundary between Kanara
and Dharwar or Mysore, and as I am told are open country like the Dhaiwar du>-
tiicts and not jungly country like Kanara generally."
THE PAINTED PARTRIDGE OR SOUTHERN FRANCOLÍN. 21
no confirmation of this. Mr. Davidson, C.S., tells me that during
a residence of nine months at Tumkur, only 50 miles northwest
of Bangalore, he neither saw nor heard it. Captain T. M.
Ward says : " It is strange that the bird should be almost unknown
in Mysore, but such is the fact. I myself was for years
in the Mysore Territory, two years in and near Bangalore, and
three in Shimoga, and I never met it. I am quite confident that
there was not a single specimen in any part of the country of
which I did the survey, and I well remember being told by Major
J. W. M. Anderson, than whom no more observant sportsman
could be named, that he had only come across the Painted Partridge
once in any part of Mysore, and then only in small
numbers. I think, but I am not quite sure, that he said that
this was in the north-west corner of Mysore, just beyond the
Banvasi of Sirsi."
South of Mysore, however, it re-appears in the northern and
central portions of the Coimbatore district, and this appears to
be the southernmost portion of its range.
Mr. A. G. Theobald writes: " I have not seen this species
further south than latitude l i°55" north, about the jungles called
Nuddacovil between Collegal and Bhavani in Northern Coimbatore.
I have never heard the call of the bird in South
Coimbatore, Malabar, Tinnevclly or Madura, or south of Salem,
although I have been all over these. It can be heard in several
parts of the jungle of the Collegal Taluk."
This species is purely Indian, and occurs nowhere outside our
limits.
T H E P A I N T E D PARTRIDGE, though clearly the southern representative
of the Black, the female of which moreover it closely
resembles, differs from it a good deal in habits, being much
less addicted to the high grass and tamarisk jungle of lowlying
damp lands, and being far more arboreal in its habits.
It abounds in the dry fields of the Deccan, far away from
any forest or jungle, and especially infields about which trees
are dotted, along nallas densely fringed with acacia trees, in dry
uplands covered with scrub jungle, and generally broken hilly
ground, where bushes and trees are plentiful. The Beerhs, or
grass and tree preserves, in the Bombay Presidency arc favourite
haunts. Black Partridges may be found further north in similar
situations, but their favourite resorts arc damper, lower-lying,
and more jungly tracts, where, so far as my experience extends,
the Southern Francolín would scarcely be met with.
The Black Partridge roosts on the ground, and but rarely
perches on trees. The Painted Partridge often, if not generally,
roosts on bushes and trees, whence I have shot them after dusk,
and have disturbed them before dawn. In the mornings and
evenings the cocks, at any rate, may, always in some districts, be
seen perched on trees ; and though attention is less often drawn