•25S GAME-UIRDS OF INDIA 



" I have only once come across a nest. This was on the 14th 

 March, 1904, in Kathiawar. I was at tlie time riding through a 

 bastard-teak jungle, and, dismounting to investigate the cause of a 

 slight temporary lameness of my pony, caught sight of a pair of 

 bright eyes fixed upon me a few feet away. The . owner of the 

 bright eyes being approached still nearer, rose and showed her- 

 self to be a Painted Sand-Grouse. The nest, which was merely a 

 slight depression, unlined, contained two young ones a few days old. 

 They were quaint little objects, which flattened themselves down as 

 close to the ground as possible, and they had a peculiarly flattened- 

 out shape which enabled them the better to do so. Their covering 

 was of a peculiar flakey character, neither down nor feathers, but 

 something between the two, and their colour was a uniform brown, 

 the exact shade of the surrounding earth." 



The normal number of eggs in a clutch is undoubtedly three, 

 though very often two only are laid, and very rarely four may be 

 found, such a clutch having been taken by Mr. E. M. Adam. They 

 are in shape elliptical, both ends being equal, as is the case with 

 the eggs of all sand-grouse, and they are much the same in size as 

 those of the Common Sand-Grouse (P. exusius) but average a shade 

 longer and a trifle less broad. Hume thus describes the large series 

 which have passed through his hands : — 



" As a body they are very regular, obtuse-ended, cylindrical 

 ellipsoids, the shell very smooth and glossy, the ground colour a 

 delicate pale salmon pink, with a good many somewhat widely 

 scattered specks and tiny streaks of brownish red, very generally 

 much more numerous towards one or other end, and with a good 

 many small pale inky purple spots and clouds almost exclusively 

 confined to that end where the markings are most numerous. 



" Specimens are occasionally met with in which the markings 

 are very sparse, and I have one specimen in which they are 

 absolutely and entirely wanting. 



" Not infrequently the markings form a pretty perfect zone 

 towards one end, and here and there an egg is met with exhibiting 

 six or eight large deep brownish-red blotches. Pale pinky white, and 

 somewhat Ijuft'y stone-colour grounds are also met with. 



"Dr. Jerdon remarks: 'I have had the eggs brought me, very 

 cylindrical in form, of a dull earthy green with a few dusky spots; 

 but these most assuredly were eggs of P. cxustus and not of our 

 present species P. fascial as.' 



" In length the eggs vary from 1"3 to 1'62 inches, and in breadth 

 from 0"93 to 1'05, but the average of forty eggs is 1'42 by 0'98." 



