190 GAME-BIRDS OF INDIA 



Barnes then refers to Colonel Butler's remarks in Stray Feathers, 

 which are as follows : — 



" Mr. Scroggie, however, who resides at Henjam, imparted an 

 important piece of information which I must not omit, and that is 

 that one or two pairs of Houbara macqueenii were breeding in the 

 island and that about six weeks before our arrival, i.e., about the first 

 week in April, a pair (cf and ?) were shot there, and that he 

 extracted a perfect egg from tlie oviduct of the female and put it 

 under a hen to hatch, but that subsequently it was destroyed by rats. 

 I am inclined to think that the greater number of Houbara that visit 

 Sind in the cold weather breed in Persia and Afghanistan." 



The nest, which is merely a depression in the sand or earth, 

 seems generally to be placed in the open, though under shelter of 

 some scrubby bush or patch of grass ; failing these, in amongst stones 

 or boulders. 



The breeding season in Persia and Mesopotamia is principally 

 May and early June, but a considerable number lay in April and 

 Aharoni took numerous nests at or near Karyatin during this month, 

 some as early as the 7th. The latest date I have recorded is for 

 a pair taken Altai 24th June. 



The eggs seem to be generally three in number, but four are 

 frequently laid, and almost equally often two only. 



A very fine series of these eggs obtained in Western Mesopo- 

 tamia have passed through my hands or are still in my collection, 

 and I am therefore able to add considerably to my former notes 

 upon them. 



In colour they do not vary greatly. The ground is generally a 

 pale brownish-stone, in some paler and more grey or yellowish, in 

 others darker and still more brown. In some eggs there is a slight 

 olive tint, but this is rarely at all strongly developed, and I have 

 seen only one pair in which this tint was really conspicuous. 



The primary markings consist of blotches and spots of umber- 

 and vandyke-brown and the secondary of pale-brown, grey-brown 

 and neutral-tint marks of the same character. In most eggs the 

 blotches are fairly large, not very numerous, and are equally dis- 

 tributed over the whole surface of the egg; in others they are 

 smaller, and in one pair in my collection they are reduced to quite 

 small specks and dots. In nine out of ten eggs the marks are 



