574 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY, 
M. Hume says :—“In Upper India I have almost exclusively 
met with it in patches of low, dense grass, and most generally 
in patches of this nature situated in Dhak (wéea frondosa), or 
other thin bush or tree jungles. Occasionally I have flushed it 
from low crops and not unfrequently from belts of grass sur- 
rounding and dividing fields of these. 
“Tt is hard to find without dogs, only rises when hard pressed, 
rises almost silently, sails away for a dozen yards like some 
large bee, and drops suddenly into some dense tuft of grass 
whence, as a rule, it makes no attempt to run, and where the 
dogs will often pounce upon it. 
“T have once or twice seen it feeding in the early mornings in 
the little open spaces intervening between thinly-set tufts of 
grass, growing in lands which are flooded during the rains. 
During these latter I have seen them gliding like mice about the 
paths of my own and other gardens, where there was plenty of 
moderately-high fine grass. ‘Two or three shot during the coid 
season had eaten only grass seeds, while two shot in my garden 
at Etawah had fed almost exclusively on termites.” 
Colonel Butler says :—‘ The note of this species is remark- 
able, being a mixture of a ‘ purr’ and a ‘coo,’ and when uttering 
it, the bird raises its feathers and turns and twists about much in 
the same way as an old cock pigeon. I have often watched 
them in the act of cooing within a few yards of me. Ifan old 
bird gets separated from one of its young ones, it is sure to 
commence making this peculiar noise.” 
Nest.—Lined with grass and placed in a slight depression in 
the ground in some standing crop or patch of grass. Mr. 
Hume states that occasionally he has heard of partially or 
wholly domed or covered-in nests being met with. 
Eggs.— Usual number four, but five and even six are said to 
have been found—laid from April to October according to 
season and locality. The eggs are moderately broad ovals, 
much pointed towards one end, and fairly glossy, of a pale 
