Arboricola intermedia

Arakan HILL-PARTRIDGE.

Arboricola intermedia.

Toung-kha, Burmese.

The hill-partridge of Arakan is so like the Tenasserim variety of the rufous-throated that it seems ridiculous to make a "species" of it, seeing that the rufous-throated itself varies according as it inhabits the Himalayas or Tenasserim. In the Arakan variety the black of the throat is concentrated into a patch reaching up to the chin, though there are specklings elsewhere ; the black border-line between the chestnut throat and grey breast is wanting as in the Tenasserim rufous-throated birds.

Hume very appositely points out that "both in this race and in the Himalayan one, specimens occur in which the black spots on the throat are large, and almost coalesce in some places; and in our present species the throat patch is at times small and dotted with pale ferruginous, showing that it is nothing but coalesced spots," and he therefore thinks it no more worthy of separation than the Tenasserim form.

Silly distinctions like these make ornithology ridiculous, and it is curious that Hume, holding the rational view above quoted as to the close alliance of this bird with the ordinary rufous-throat, wasted a plate on it.

The only point of interest on record about the bird is that its white eggs have been taken in Manipur, where, as well as in North Cachar, and in the Naga Hills, it is now known to extend. The eggs were found in May, and six was the set found.