hills) • Mount Abu ; Valley of Tapti, W. Khandesh ; Lucknow ;
Umballa ; theDiin ; Lower Himalayan ranges, below Kumaun,
Mussoorc'e, Simla, and of Kashmir.
Much remains to be done before we can exactly define tlie
distribution of this species, but the above remarks will, I hope,
help to convey some general idea of its range in India.
Outside our limits it is not found.
MODERATELY thick forests and jungles, hills, ravines, and
broken ground, not too deficient in cover, and rich cultivation, if
not in too damp and undraincd situations, from near the sea
level to an elevation of four to five thousand feet, arc the
ordinary resorts of the Jungle Bush Quail. Very considerable
differences in rainfall affect them but little, provided the ground
is hilly, raviny or well drained, and cover sufficient, and they
arc abundant, as on the Western Gháts, where the rainfall is
over ioo inches, and on scrub-clad hills in Rajputana, where it
certainly falls short of 20 inches.
Little bustling ground birds, always keeping, according to my
experience, in packs or families ; never coming out into the
open ; always feeding in grass, jungle or stubble long enough
to hide their tiny selves ; there is but little to be said of their
habits. They are very tame, and trouble themselves but little
about men ; and if you stand perfectly still for a few minutes,
will bustle about within a few yards of you, all feeding, chirping
and scratching in the dust as if their lives depended upon their
getting through a certain amount of all this within the shortest
possible time. Even when thus at their case, a pocket handkerchief
would often cover an entire covey of a dozen ; they have
often reminded me strongly when thus moving about, the whole
body animated, as it were by one impulse, of a flock of Guinea-
Fowl. Make the least sound, and the whole party cluster
together into the space a dinner plate would cover; and, unless
pressed, glide away cn masse out of sight. You make a rush,
and, suddenly from the grass on which your foot is descending,
a lively fountain of small birds spurts out, with a vast amount
of whirring, and sharp quivering whistling. In every direction
fly the birds, every one of which probably drops, as if shot,
within 20 or at most 30 yards. Immediately some one or two
begin calling vigorously ; -within five minutes, if you have not
fired and keep still, your dog will put the whole reunited covey
up again, perhaps nearly a hundred yards away, perhaps closer
to you than any one of them alighted.
Their chief food appears to be grass seeds and grains of
millets. Ragi stubble is a sure find for them ; but they eat any
small seeds and grains, and sometimes you find quantities of
insects, ants and tiny coleóptera in their crops. I am disposed,
however, to think that the)- only eat these latter when grain and
seeds are scarce, for in numbers that I have examined nothing
absolutely but these latter were to be noticed.
Jerdon tells us that " in the south of India the Jungle Bush-
Quail frequents open forests, thick patches of jungle, and
especially grassy hill sides, with a few scattered bushes, also
fields near hills or jungle. Riding through some of the more
open forests, especially in the upland districts, a bevy of this
little bird is often seen crossing the road, or feeding on grain
dropped by cattle."
Col. Sykcs remarks :—" These birds 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 the Rock Bush-Quail.
My specimens were shot at 4,000 feet above the sea."
Of course, it is not true for India generally that this species
is found only in the hills, but it is approximately so in the
localities of which Sykcs was writing, the Rock Bush-Quail
being common all over the Deccan, while the present species is
almost confined to the Western Gluits and other hills.
Col. Tickcll, who, although he did not distinguish the two
species, was clearly, I think, from the localities he cites, writing
of the present species, says :—
" These little Partridges, called from their size ' Bush-Quail' by
sportsmen, are tolerably common in the jungly tracts of India
—off the alluvium, to the south and west of the Ganges and
Bhagirathi. In the more arid parts of Singhbhoom, in Bankoora,
Midnapore, Hazaribdgh, Beerbhoom, and Chota Nagporc, they
are pretty numerous. They prefer stony, gravelly places, amongst
thorny bushes, such as the jujube or ber ; or tracts of stunted
Sell, Assun, and Folds (or Dhak) : congregating in coveys of
eight to a dozen under thickets, whence of an evening they
emerge into adjacent fields, meadows, and clumps of grass to feed.
They lie very close, suffering themselves to be almost trodden
upon, and then rise at once out of some small bush, with a
piping whistle, and such a sudden start and whirr, instantly
flying off to all parts of the compass—including sometimes
a close shave of the sportsman's countenance—that a more
difficult bird to hit could nowhere be found, especially as their
flight is prodigiously rapid, and directed so as barely to skim
the upper twigs of the bushes. They do not go far, but when once
down are hardly ever flushed again till they have reunited. This
they lose as little time as possible in doing, running like mice
through the herbage to some central spot, where the oldest
cock bird of the covey is piping all hands together Although
so gregarious and sociable, these birds are very quarrelsome,
and their extreme pugnacity leads to their easy capture. The
mode of taking them is precisely the same as that which has
been already described with regard to the Grey Partridge
(Ortygornispondiceriamis), of which bird the Bush-Quail is in