Arboricola mandellii

RED-BREASTED HILL-PARTRIDGE.

Arboricola mandellii.

This is the rarest and at the same time the most striking of our hill-partridges, so that it is curious that only very few specimens have been obtained so far, and these in Bhutan and Sikkim, always at low elevations. It is of the usual olive-brown seen in these partridges above, spotted distinctly with black; below it is dull grey for the most part, with the chestnut markings on the flanks not very distinct, and the white spots small. But the throat and breast are very distinctly and handsomely coloured, the former being bright chestnut or rusty, speckled with black at the sides, while the latter is of a much deeper shade, verging on maroon ; between the two shades there is a well-marked double collar on the front of the neck, white above and black below. The hen is perhaps rather duller than the cock, but there is no certainty about this, nor about the colour of the legs, so that even the appearance of this bird is not fully known. As far as size goes, however, this species is markedly smaller than the rest of the typical hill-partridges.

It seems to frequent heavy jungle on damp ground.