METOPIDIUS. 357 



0*97. Colour, clear brownish-ochre, strongly lined and streaked 

 with black. Nests, of weeds in jheels." 



Mr. Robert Blewitt says : " I found this species, though not 

 in numbers, in the jheels and marshes of the Lullutpoor, Saugor, 

 and Xursingpoor Districts and the Valley of the Xerbudda. It 

 was pretty common between Jubbulpoor and Eaipoor, and in this 

 latter country of swamps and tanks it is abundant. It breeds from 

 .Tune to about the middle of September. The nest is made of 

 weeds roughly put together. This nest, of various sizes from a 

 foot to nearly two feet in diameter, is often made on the water sur- 

 face, at others on any island near to the water's edge. In each 

 situation a sheltered spot is chosen, offering concealment ; among 

 thick-growing lotus-leaves is a favourite resort. 



" The regular number of eggs I have not been able to ascertain 

 accurately, but from 8 to 10 may be taken as the maximum 

 number. In colour they are sometimes of a light olive-brown ; at 

 others of a darker brown, streaked and marked with black. 



" This Jacaiia runs with wonderful facility over the floating 

 weeds, lotus-leaves, &c. It is a rather shy bird, and when alarmed 

 will conceal itself by lying close on the weeds or plants, with its 

 head and neck well stretched out on a level with the body. When 

 it can do so, for more effectual concealment it will half-sink its 

 body in the water. The bird is likewise an expert diver. The 

 boatmen on the Talbeehut Lake (Lullutpoor) told me that the birds 

 moult once in each year, just before the rains in April and May/' 

 Colonel Butler writes : " I found a nest of the Bronze-winged 

 Jacana at Milaua, 18 miles E. of Deesa. on the 25th August, 1876, 

 containing three slightly incubated eggs. At first the eggs looked 

 as if they were resting simply upon the surface of the water, but 

 upon closer inspection it turned out that they were supported by 

 a considerable quantity of aquatic weeds collected together under 

 the water. The nest was built amongst a quantity of lotus plants, 

 one of the large leaves of which completely overshadowed it. On 

 the 12th September I searched the tank again, and found another 

 nest built by the same pair of birds, containing four fresh eggs. 

 The nest in this instance was exactly the same as the first, but 

 raised rather higher in the water, and in a much more exposed 

 situation." 



Mr. H. Wenden remarks : " At Callian, 32 miles from Bombay, 

 this bird breeds freely on the numerous rushy tanks, in which, as 

 they are all adjacent to and more or less connected with a tidal 

 river, the level of the water is liable to sudden and considerable 

 increase. A flood occurred early in September, by which I believe 

 the first set of nests were swamped, and this may doubtless account 

 for the fact that no nest observed by me contained more than four 

 eggs ; nor did nests which had hatched out show more shell than 

 would suffice to form that number. I note this, as I observe that 

 Mr. E. Blewitt states that this species lays as many as eight or ten 

 eggs. 



" On llth September I went to a tank on which, a week before, 



