specimens it is scarcely traceable. Moreover, the supercilium,
such as it is, in the Rock Bush-Quail is immediately above the
eye and ear-coverts, whereas in the Jungle Bush-Quail the long
supercilium is separated from both eyes and ear-coverts by a
narrow band of the same rich chestnut as the throat.
Besides these differences, there is in the males of the Jungle
Bush-Quail a well-marked yellowish white rictal stripe running
under the eye and ear-coverts, while in the Rock Bush-Quail
there is only a faint trace of a pale line.
The black bars on the lower surface of the Jungle Bush-
Quail are far more regular and better marked than those of the
Rock Bush-Quail. Indeed, in this latter species, it is only on
the neck and breast that they are at all regular and continuous,
while in the Jungle Bush-Quail they arc regular and continuous
almost to the vent.
In the females of the Jungle Bush-Quail there is only a trace
of the rictal stripe. The young males resemble the females,
but have the rictal stripe well marked. At first the breast and
abdomen is the same dull rufous, faintly suffused with grey, as
in the adult female; then the tips of some of the feathers become
yellowish, then a dusky line appears above this tip, then
the tip becomes whiter, the line becomes a dark bar, and above
this a pale bar bounded by a dark line begins to show ; lastly,
the tips and bars become nearly pure white and blackish brown,
and the rufous disappears entirely, except about the vent, thighcoverts,
and lower tail-coverts. These parts, I may note, are
always rufous in the Jungle Bush-Quail, and a kind of pale
dingy sandy hue in the Rock Bush-Quail. I have also remarked
that in this latter species there are almost invariably
more or less distinct bars on the lower tail-coverts, whereas in
the former species these are (in all the specimens I have seen)
entirely without any trace of bars.
I may add, that in one stage of the quite young Jungle Bush-
Quail, the feathers of the cheeks, of the throat, sides of the
breast and intcrscapulary region are very conspicuously white
shafted—a feature which I have failed to observe in any of my
specimens of the Rock Bush-Quail.
Again, as a general rule, the tertiaries aud scapulars in the
Jungle Bush-Quail are very conspicuously blotched with black,
and also usually have conspicuous yellowish white to reddish
buff shaft stripes, both of which are almost entirely wanting,
or at most are but feebly reproduced, in the Rock Bush-Quail.
But too much stress must not be laid upon this, because it only
really suffices to separate nearly adult up to middle-aged birds ;
since in very old specimens of the Jungle Bush-Quail these
blotches almost entirely disappear, while in quite young birds
of the Rock Bush-Quail these blotches are pretty conspicuous,
though not nearly so much so as in the corresponding stage of
the Jungle Bush-Quail.
And now one word about the scientific names under which
these two species should stand, as in this matter also the
utmost confusion has prevailed.
Both these species have been figured by Sykes, Tr. Z. S., Vol.
II., pi. 2 and 3. They are not well figured, quite the contrary,
but still they are recognisable, and Jcrdon was quite right in
correcting Blyth and in assigning Cotumix pentah, Sykes, to the
Jungle Bush-Quail, and Cotumix argoondah, Sykes, to the Rock
Bush-Quail; but when it came to Latham's name, Jerdon was,
I think, in error. Carefully comparing Latham's description of
his Asiatic Partridge {Perdix asiáticas), especially the passage
" through the eye and behind brown, beneath it a patch of
fringed whitish feathers, rufous in the middle," there can be no
doubt, I think, that this name of Latham's, asiática, was applied
to the Jungle Bush-Quail.
On the other hand, Latham's other name, cambaiensis
(erroneously printed on our plate of the Jungle Bush-Quail),
cannot, as I have shown elsewhere (STRAY FEATHERS, Vol. VII,
p. 158), possibly apply to cither species.*
This species, the Jungle Bush-Quail, is found in suitable
localities almost throughout India, from near Colombo, in Ceylon,
to the outer ranges of the Himalayas in Kashmir, but it does
not, so far as I know, extend to Sind, nor anywhere east of
the Ganges from Rajmchal southwards. Blyth says it is the
only species in Bengal, but Bengal is a wide term, and so far
as my present information goes, it is only quite as a straggler
that it extends anywhere into the deltaic districts of Bengal,","
or descends from the somewhat higher ground, approximately
indicated by a line drawn through Midnapore and Rajmchal.
The two species have been so constantly confounded that I
cannot rely on the localities given by others, but the following
is a list of the places from which I possess, or have seen and
verified, specimens of this species :—
Near Colombo and Eastern Province, Ceylon ; Malabar
Coast, several localities ; the YVyndd ; Mysore, several localities ;
Madras (neighbourhood of) ; Pothanorc; several of the Bustar
Feudatory States; several localities on the Eastern Gháts ; Satara
Mills ; Western Gháts, Mahábaleshvar, Khandála, and other
localities; Ratnagiri and Southern Koncan generally; Chanda,
Seoni, Narsinghpur, Bilaspur, Raipur, Sambalpur, Lohardugga,
Manbhúm ; Rajmehal Hills ; Mirzapur ; Etiwah (Ravines of
Valleys of Jumna and Chambal); Kucháwan (scrub jungle of
• I am aware that Temminck, who undoubtedly figured this present species (P. C ,
447)- says that he examined Latham's type, and that it was a mutilated and immature
bird of this species. But Latham's description will not answer to any stage
of our present bird, whereas his other name asiática docs, and the name cambaiensis,
no matter what the type may have been (and there is no reason to believe that
Temminck could discriminate immature birds of this and the Rock Bush-Quail),
must be altogether suppressed.
+ Mr. Rainey, however, writes to me, that he has once or twice seen this species
in the Jessore district during the cold season.