ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. 149 



home for a few days, and on her return the wolf, through joy went up to her, 

 put its paws on her shoulders, and immediately fell dead ! 



The Bush Quail (Perdicula enjthroryncha). — The following letter about this 

 bird has been received from Mr. W. Mahon Daly, of Tercand : — 



It well known that the attachment of birds to their young is not exceeded 

 by that of any other creatures. 



The boldness and sagacity displayed the other day by a red-billed bush-quail 

 (S"28 Perdicala erythrorhyncha) in the protection and defence of its brood, may not 

 be uninteresting to your readers. A friend of mine caught in his hand a little one 

 of this quail, and sitting silently under a bush watched for the mother. The 

 chicken cried piteously for some few minutes, when, shortly the parent bird arrived, 

 which seemed immediatelv to restore life to its frightened offspring. The bush 

 quail repeatedly pecked at my friend's hand, and he in attempting to catch the bird 

 took off a quantity of feathers. It came again and again, and seemed to peck at 

 his hand beseechingly, rather than hurtfully, till at last it was caught a victim to 

 maternal love. The mother having fairly won its little one was released, 

 and in a twinkling disappeared with its " chick," and they were soon concealed in the 

 long grass that this handsome bush-quail generally frequents. 



These birds are generally met with in rocky ground with low scrub jungle, and 

 nearly always in pairs, and not in large bevies as stated by Jerdon. An 

 accurate observer has remarked that the natural timidity of birds is a great 

 preservative to them. This quail however is most daring, for I have more than 

 once seen it fly at a dog in defending its brood, and have often caught a bird off 

 its nest, which contains generally six to eight eggs. 



Note on the Irregular Breeding of Grus Antigone, the Sarus. 

 By Lieut. Edwin Barnes. 



The normal breeding season of the Sarus is during the latter half of the mon- 

 soon, but that they frequently breed during the cold weather seems not to be 

 generally known. 



At page 6, " Game Birds of India," Mr. Hume gives the breeding season as 

 above, but in a footnote, says : — " Occasionally, however, they certainly breed also 

 in the spring." Quite recently, Mr. Chill wrote to me from near Delhi: — "Last 

 month (April), my men brought me in a young Sarus, about twenty days old, so 

 it must have been hatched about the end of March ! It is a new thing to me to 

 find the bird breeding in the spring." 



On the 5th February last year (18§5), while duck-shooting at Gangrar, about 60 

 miles from Neemuch, I found a nest containing two perfectly fresh eggs, and on the 

 30th March at Jeerun, about twelve miles from Neemuch, I found another pair, 

 much incubated. This year (1836), on the 18th February, I obtained from a marsh, 

 a few miles from Saugor, two more, very slightly incubated ; these last eggs are 

 perfectly white and spotless, and have a considerable amount of gloss, and my 

 beaters assured me that this was the case with all Sarus's eggs in the Saugor 

 District, but as is not unusual with native sbikaries, they deviated from the truth, 

 for the only two pairs of eggs that I obtained later in September, were fairly well 

 marked. 



