THE a AM]-: BIliDS OF I^DIA. 187 



AVherever the nest may bo, two things seem to be essential, the 

 • very close vicinity of watci- and open ground not too distant for 

 feeding. '^Fhe open ground may bo anything from a more forest 

 road to extensive cultivation, or a natural open expanse, and in the 

 same way the water may be the river Brahmapootra itself, a lake or 

 swamp, or it may be the mere lazy trickle of some tiny stream 

 which wends its awi}^ from rock to rock down a hill ravine in the 

 hot weather. 



The inimbor of eggs laid is perhaps most often 7 to t), but very 

 often only 5 or 6 are laid, and sometimes onlj?^ 4 ; on the other hand 

 this pheasant sometimes laj^s as many as 10, though this is proba- 

 blj' the maximum. 



In colour the eggs vary almost as much as those of the man}^ 

 varieties of Barn-door Fowl. I have in my collection one clutch 

 absolutely pure white, and another a most beautiful deep pink cafe- 

 axi-lait, a richer, deeper colour than I have ever seen in a domestic 

 fowl's eggs. Between these two extremes every variation may be 

 found, but the colour of 9 eggs out of 10 is a pale buff or cream, 

 some slightly darker, some slightly paler. 



Typical!}" the surface is cjuite smooth, and in some'eggs there is 

 even a slight gloss ; the texture is close and hard, but though the 

 shell is stout and strong, it is not coarse, but rather fine. Occasion- 

 ally one comes across a clutch coarse and pitted on the surface, 

 similar to those described by Hume, but these are the exception 

 and not the rule. In the same way I should not say that the 

 " iisual hen's egg shape ■' of those described by Hume represented 

 the average Black-breasted Pheasant's egg, though it would do for 

 many of them. On an average their eggs are rather longer in 

 proportion than jungle-fowrs eggs, have a nearer approach to 

 direct reduction of size at the smaller end, and are on the whole 

 more elegantly shaped eggs than those of that bird. 



The white speckling found in some instances on most unico- 

 loured game-birds' eggs are also to be found in these, but this is a 

 rare occurrence, and is not often met with, as it is in the Polyplec- 

 trons and some other offo-g. 



In size the eggs vary in length from l-6o" (39-9 mm.) to 2-1" 

 (53-3 mm.), and the average of 100 eggs is 1-92" (48-7 mm.), and 

 in breadth between 1-32" (33-5 mm.) and 1-53" (38-8 mm.), the 

 average being 1-46" (37'1 mm.). 



Incubation seems to take 20 to 22 days in the case of all Kalij Phea- 

 sants and Jungle-Fowl, generally 20 days in the Avarmer, moister 

 parts of their habitat, and up to 22 at higher, cooler elevations. 



1 do not think the Black-breasted Kalij is polygamous, for I 

 have more than once come across both parents looking after a brood of 

 young, and moreover, the male is generally to be found somewhere 

 near the nest when the hen bird is sittino-. Certainlv one or 



