NESTING IN WESTERN INDIA. 23 



They are permanent residents, breeding during April, May and 

 June. Eggs may be obtained as early as the first week in March and 

 as late as the third week in August, but the majority of the birds 

 lav in the months stated. I do not think that they have more than 

 one brood, as a rule, but if the first eggs be taken, and the birds bo 

 not otherwise persecuted, they will lay a second and even a third 

 time in the same vicinity. 



They are not particular in choosing a site for a nest, provided 

 that water be not very far off ; melon fields, irrigated gardens, borders 

 of swamps, banks of rivers, and such like places, until the monsoon 

 breaks, after which they prefer drier spots, often some little distance 

 from water. There is no nest, the eggs, invariably four in number, 

 are placed in a depression on the ground, in many cases surrounded 

 by a border of small stones, clods of earth, or loose sand. The eggs 

 are very broad at one end, and much pointed at the other, but they 

 are subject to variation. 



They average about 1*65 inches in length by nearly 1*21 in breadth. 

 The ground-colour varies from pale olive-green to reddish- or 

 yellowish-buff, and the markings, consisting of blotches, streaks, and 

 spots, are deep brown, almost black in some specimens ; besides these 

 markings, many have pale washed-out underlying patches of faint 

 inky-purple. 



The anxiety exhibited by these birds when any one approaches the 

 spot where they have young, and the wiles they make use of to entice 

 him away, quite equals all that has been written about the Peewit. 



856.— THE YELLOW-WATTLED LAPWING. 



Lobipluvia malabarica, Bocld. 



The Yellow-wattled Lapwing is more or less common in suitable 

 localities throughout Western India, but is somewhat rare in Eatna- 

 giri. It is not found in the vicinity of rivers and marshes as a rule, 

 being more a bird of the uplands, where it breeds during the months 

 of April and May . The eggs, always four in number, are placed in 

 a depression on the ground, usually out in the open, rarely is advan- 

 tage taken of a tuft of grass or bush. 



These depressions are often surrounded by a ridge of loose sand, or 

 small stones, much in the same way as those of the Red-wattled 



