AVIS-IBIS

Birds of Indian Subcontinent

Caccabis chukar

Caccabis chukar, J. E. Gr.

820. :- Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 564 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 213 ; Game Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 33.

THE CHUKOR PARTRIDGE.

Chukor, Hin.

Length, 14.25 to 15.75; expanse, 21.5 to 23.25; wing, 6.25 to 6.8 ; tail, 4 to 4.9; tarsus, 1.6 to 1.9 ; bill from gape, 0.94 to 1.2 ; weight, 19 to 27 oz.

Length, 13.0 to 14.4; expanse, 20 to 21.3; wing, 5.9 to 6.5 ; tail 3.3 to 4.1 ; tarsus, 1.55 to 1.75 ; bill from gape, 0.94 to 1.1 ; weight, 13 to 19 oz.

Bill crimson to deep coral-red, occasionally dusky on the cul¬ men; irides yellowish or reddish-brown; legs and feet pale reddish.

Plumage above pale-bluish or olive-ashy, washed with a rufous tinge ; lores black, and a white band behind the eye ; ear-coverts rufous ; wings reddish-ashy, the coverts tipped with buff, and the primaries narrowly edged with the same ; tail ashy on the central feathers, the laterals tinged with rufous ; face, chin, -and throat, fulvous or rufous, surrounded by a black band which begins at the eye, and forms a sort of necklace round the throat; below this the neck and breast are ashy, changing to buff on the abdomen and under tail-coverts; the flanks of the breast and belly beautifully banded, each feather being ashy at the base, with two large black bands, the terminal one tipped with fine maroon, and the space between the bands creamy-white.

The female closely resembles the male, but is slightly smaller, and wants the spurs.

Within our limits the Chukor only occurs on the rocky hills that divide Sind from Khelat. It is very common both in the Bolan Pass and on the Khoja Amran Range of mountains in Southern Afghanistan.

I found them breeding near Chaman, about the end of March or early in April. There was no nest; the eggs were deposited on the ground, in a depression under a bush. I never found more than eight eggs, but the Afghans asserted that they frequently lay twenty, and I have seen a hen with quite that number of chicks ; whether they were all her own or not, I cannot say. The eggs are somewhat peg-topped shape, of a pale stony color, speckled and blotched with lavender-brown. They average 161 inches in length by 1'4 in breadth.

BookTitle: 
Handbook to the Birds of the Bombay Presidency
Reference: 
Barnes, Henry Edwin. Handbook to the birds of the Bombay Presidency, 1885.
Title in Book: 
Caccabis chukar
Spp Author: 
J. e. gr.
Book Author: 
Barnes, H. Edwin
Year: 
1885
Page No: 
309
Common name: 
Chukor Partridge
M_ID: 
1135
M_CN: 
Chukar Partridge
M_SN: 
Alectoris chukar
Term name: 
id: 
11913

Add new comment

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith