The PAINTED SPUR-FOWL (_Galloperdix Lunulosa_)--See Coloured Plate XXXI.
In this beautiful species the male has the head, face, and neck variegated
with black and white, the feathers being black, with white streaks and
triangular spots, the head mostly black; the upper plumage and wings rich
chestnut, with white spots on the back, sides of the neck, shoulders, and
wing-covers; primaries earthy brown, tail dark sepia-brown, glossed with
green in old birds; beneath, the throat and neck are variegated black and
white, changing on the neck to ochreous buff, with small triangular black
marks, which disappear on the abdomen; the flanks, thigh-covers, and under
tail-covers dull chestnut. Bill blackish, orbits and irides red-brown,
legs horny brown. Length, thirteen inches, wing six, tail five, tarsus one
inch and a half.
These birds are found in Southern India, in the jungles of the Eastern
Ghauts, and upon the Hill country in the vicinity of those mountains. They
have been taken in the neighbourhood of Pondicherry and the Ghauts, near
Bellary, Cuddapah, and Hyderabad; in Bengal and the Himalayas they are
unknown. They are generally associated in small flocks, keeping to the low
shrubs and brushwood, and seeking their food among fallen leaves and low
herbage. Jerdon kept several individuals for a long time, but found them
too pugnacious and quarrelsome for domestication. Their tail is carried
erect, like that of the Jungle Fowl. A fine specimen of this species was
brought to the Zoological Gardens, London, where its beauty and vivacity
attracted general admiration.
[Illustration]