On Birds from Nyasaland. 551 



domestic fowl is undoubted, as I have myself seen a splendid 

 hybrid c-ock bird, but, owing to his extreme pugnacity, I 

 obtained no satisfactory proof of further offspring being 

 attributed to him. According to native testimony, the 

 Jungle-fowl in the villages adjoining the wild forests freely 

 mix with the domestic birds. 



The breeding-season cannot, I think, be confined to any 

 particular time, as I have taken the eggs in both monsoons, 

 and on one occasion I took as many as six from a single 

 nest. The colour is a soft brownish stone, and in some 

 faintly pinkish, finely marked with dots and spots of brown. 

 Endemic. 



167. Gallopkrdix bicalcarata (Legge, B. of C. p. 741, 

 pi. xxxiii.). 



This handsome " Partridge " is very generally distributed 

 over the entire province wherever there is bush or forest 

 cover. It is an exceedingly shy bird, and therefore far more 

 frequently heard than seen, as it very rarely ventures into 

 the open and runs the moment it is alarmed. 



It breeds during the latter part of the north-east monsoon 

 and well into the opposite one. The eggs are laid on the 

 bare ground, usually by the side of some fallen tree or other 

 like cover, and are from two to four in number (I have often 

 taken four), of a fine cream-colour, with white specks of no 

 very uniform distribution over the surface. The species is 

 confined to Ceylon. 



XLVI. — A List of the Birds collected by Mr. Alfred Sharpe, 

 C.B., in Nyasaland. By Captain G. E. Shelley, F.Z.S. 

 With Prefatory Remarks by P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., 

 F.R.S. 



I. Introduction. By P. L. S. 

 On succeeding to the Governorship of the Protectorate of 

 Nyasaland, Mr. Alfred Sharpe resolved to continue the 

 scientific investigations so long and so successfully carried 

 on by Sir Harry Johnston, his predecessor in office, and 



