Arboricola brunneopectus, Tickcll.
Vernacular Names — [Toun-hka (Burmese), Pegu;
?HIS species is found in the Eastern Hills of Tenasserim,
from, at any rate, as far south as the latitude
of Tavoy to our northern boundary north
of Tonghoo. It is also abundant along the eastern
slopes of the Pegu Hills, which bound the valley
of the Sitang on the west.
Elsewhere it is not known to occur within our
limits, though it may extend along the hills further south
than I have above indicated.
Wardlaw Ramsay met with it in the Karenee Hills, and it
doubtless (though this has yet to be ascertained) extends into
the southern portions of Independent Burma, the Shan States,
and the north-western portions, at any rate, of Siam.
I KNOW nothing of this species personally. One of my
collectors, Mr. Darling, who procured me a considerable
series of specimens, notes as follows :—
"There was not a day at Thoungyah that I did not see*
two or three coveys of this Partridge, counting each from
3 to 10 or even more birds ; but owing to their shyness and
dead-leaf colour, they are very difficult to secure. They feed
amongst the dead leaves on seeds, insects, and small shells,
and are very restless, giving a scratch here, a short run and
another scratch there, and so on, uttering a soft cooing whistle
all the time. When disturbed by a man, they always disappeared
into the dense undergrowths, but a dog always sent
them flying into some small tree, whence they would at once
begin calling to one another, whistling first low and soft, and
going up higher and shriller, till the call was taken up by
another bird. I often got quite close to them, but the instant
I was seen, away they ran helter-skelter in ail directions, and
' This was in September, October and November.—A. O. H.