THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 9 



The number of eggs laid is generall}'- 5 to 8, rarely 9, and whilst 

 5 or 6 is nndonbtedly the usual full complement, often only 4 are 

 laid. Some hundreds of clutches have passed through my hands, 

 or have been actually seen by myself in the nests, and Dr. H. N. 

 Coltart must have seen almost as many,^ but neither of us 

 have ever known more than 9. Jerdon states that they some- 

 times lay as many as a dozen, but his zoological notes are not very 

 correct, and he, like many others, who have made similar state- 

 ments as to the number of eggs laid, have been probably misled by 

 natives. In appearance the eggs cannot be discriminated from 

 those of the common Indian domestic fowl, and ovXj differ from 

 those of the English birds in being so much smaller. The}^ vary 

 in colour from almost pure white merely tinged with cream to a 

 deep cream buff or cafe-au-lait tint like that of a Brahma fowl's Qgg. 

 Now and then one comes across a deep coloured set of eggs covered 

 with white specks and spots, and I once had a clutch of bright 

 pink-buff eggs marked with' white blotches and spots over the larger 

 half. 



In length 200 eggs vary between l-5o" (39-6 mm.) and 2-05" 

 (26-6 mm.), whilst in breadth the extremes are 1-27" (32-2 mm.) 

 and 1-62" (4M mm.) The average of 200 is 1- 82" (48-2 mm.) 

 by 1- 40" (35- 5 mm.)" It will be seen that the average size of 

 my eggs is a good deal larger than those of Hume, but is slightly 

 less than those of the British Museum, according to Oates. 



So many writers have constantly asserted that Jungle-fowl 

 hens always cackle and call after laying an egg in the same way 

 as the domestic bird does that I cannot pass over the subject 

 without reference. Having read Tickell's and Kainey's remarks 

 in Hume's " Game Birds " I made the most careful investigations, 

 and must say that I have found nothing to support their asser- 

 tions. It is true that time after time I have heard hens cackling 

 and shouting as if full of pride at the recent achievement of laying 

 an egg, but have never 3^et been able to find the agg so laid. 

 Again, I have often heard hens when not breeding calling in the 

 same manner, and sometimes several birds in one flock all giving 

 vent to their feelings at once. As a rule I am quite sure the cry 

 is the result of some fright and is merely the hen's way of ex- 

 pressing indignation and not pride. A tiger or leopard stalking 

 through the jungle will often be abused in this manner, and even 

 a jackal maj^ ' be the mean cause of a similar commotion ; often 

 myself when out shooting and stealthily going through the forest 

 I have suddenly come on one or moi*e hens who, after flying a 

 short distance have relieved their feelings by loud and prolonged 

 cacklings. It seems hardly possible that a wild bird full of 

 anxiety for its future young should announce to all the predatory 

 world " here is an egg, come and eat it." It was this inherent 

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