10 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



of the districts, but it is rare in many of them, more especially in the 

 southern portion of the Presidency. 



It does not appear to ascend the hills to any height. During the 

 hot season a single bird may now and then be met with, but towards 

 the beginning and the middle of the rains they appear to become 

 much more common. 



Even in the rains they appear to be very locally distributed. In 

 one coorun near Neemuck, I put up seven or eight pairs and found 

 three nests ; the next coorun, although exactly similar, did not 

 contain a single bird ; and although I was searching particularly for 

 them, I did not meet any other until I had traversed several miles. 

 The following year I found them again in the same fields, notwith- 

 standing that it had been cultivated in part with jowari and bajri. 



They breed from about the middle of the rains quite up to the end 

 of September ; the nest is usually placed at the foot of a small bush 

 or tussock of grass, in thin grass jungle, and is composed of soft 

 blades of grass and fine roots. The eggs, four in number, are very 

 broad and round at one end, and much pointed at the other (pegtop- 

 shape, without the spike, exactly describes them) ; they are glossy, 

 and some of them are very handsome. 



The ground-colour is usually dirty yellowish-white, densety 

 speckled, spotted, and blotched with brownish-black and pale dingy 

 yellow, with an occasional spot or blotch of inky-purple : in some 

 eggs, the inky purple blotches almost cover the large end, forming 

 an irregular cap, but in most cases it is confined to spots and specks. 



The eggs in my collection, taken at Deesa, Neemuch, and Saugor, 

 Central India, average 0"88 inches in length by nearly 0'7in breadth. 



Deesa, 20th July to 19th September. H. E. Barnes. 



Neemuch, 18th August to 20th September. Do. 



835.— THE SMALL BUTTON QUAIL. 



Turnix dussumieri, Tern. 



The Small Button Quail occurs in much the same places as the 

 last ; it is however often overlooked on account of its small size and 

 skulking habits. 



II frequents open tracts of country, thin grass jungle, and such- 

 like places, avoiding the hills and forest-clad districts. It is, I think, 



