2IO Allen's naturalist's library. 



huge rocks with large bodies of men, when bear-shooting, that 

 the ' Askal ' is seen, and I have sometimes observed two or 

 three in the air at a time, flying straight, with rapid action of 

 the wings, much Hke Jungle Fowl. They are flushed but once ; 

 and after alighting, run into fissures and holes amongst the 

 rocks, whence there is no dislodging them." 



Captain Baldwin, again, says : "The male does not crow like 

 the Jungle Cock, though both sexes make a kind of clucking 

 noise like a true fowl. When running, these birds carry the tail 

 up, not like a Partridge. I have often watched them when 

 hidden behind a bush or rock, waiting for the beat to approach ; 

 sometimes over a dozen have run past me. They move very 

 fast, and seldom take wing till hard-pressed. The flight is 

 swift and rarely at any great height from the ground. The 

 birds take a good hard blow to bring them down." 



Nest. — None ; the eggs being deposited on the bare ground 

 sheltered by a rock or root of a tree, and concealed by sur- 

 rounding tufts of grass. 



Eggs. — Generally longer ovals than those of the Red Spur- 

 Fowl, and uniform pale brownish-buff. Average measurements, 

 I '62 by I'll inch. 



III. THE CEYLON SPUR-FOWL. GALLOPERDIX BICALCARATA. 



Perdix bicalcaratus^ Pennant, Ind. Zool. p. 40, pi. vii. (1769). 

 Perdix zeylonetisis^ Gmel. S. N. i. pt. ii. p. 759 (1788). 

 Galloperdix bicalcarata, Layard, Ann. Mag. N. H. (2), xiv. 



p. 105 (1854) ; Legge, Birds of Ceylon, iii. p. 741, pi. 



(1880); Hume and Marshall, Game Birds of India, i. 



p. 261, pi. (1878); Gates, ed. Hume's Nests and Eggs 



Ind. B. iii. p. 426 (1890) ; Ogilvie- Grant, Cat. B. Brit. 



Mus. xxii. p. 264 (1893). 



Adult Male. — Crown of the head, neck, mantle, and sides 



black, with a wide white shaft- stripe to each feather ; rest of 



upper-parts chestnut, with rather large white black-edged spots 



on the wing-coverts ; chin and throat white ; chest black, with 



