390 BALLIDJE. 



" August 23rd. Took a nest at Achulda Jheel, a moderate- 

 sized one, built of green rushes and rice-stems, 011 a tuft of grass. 

 It contained fourteen eggs belonging, apparently, to at least three 

 birds. Four of the eggs were hard-set, ready to hatch off. Three 

 or four were partly incubated, say about nine days. The rest 

 were quite fresh, and the nest seemed not nearly large enough to 

 contain such a number of eggs. It is just possible that they may 

 all have belonged to one bird, and that the different stages in which 

 we find the eggs have resulted, not from incubation, but from the 

 heat of the sun and of the fermenting materials on which the eggs 

 were laid." 



Mr. W. Theobald makes the following remarks on the nidification 

 of the Moor-hen in the Valley of Cashmere : " Lays in the 

 second week of May. Eggs, ovato-pyriform, measuring from 

 1*57 to 1-7 in length, and from 1*1] to 1*26 in breadth. Colour, 

 pale grey or reddish grey, dotted and spotted with deep reddish 

 brown. Nest, a few weeds heaped on the water among reeds." 



Colonel Butler writes : " I took numerous nests of the common 

 Moor-hen at Milana, 18 miles fromDeesa, in August and September, 

 1876. Dates as follows : 



" -Aug. 21st. Several nests containing from 4 to 6 fresh eggs. 

 ,, 22nd. 3 4, 5, 6 eggs respectively. 



,, 26th. 2 8. 1 egg respectively. 



29th. 3 1, 2, 3 eggs respectively. 



Sept. 12th. 1 nest 3 fresh eggs. 



13th. 1 2 fresh eggs. 



15th. 1 ,, 5 fresh eggs. 



26th. 1 3 fresh eggs. 



27th. 1 6 fresh eggs. 



" The nests are always either in or close to the water ; some- 

 times at the foot of trees or in bushes growing out in the water ; 

 sometimes in tussocks of coarse grass ; sometimes in dead stick 

 fences overgrown with long grass, but most generally I think in 

 bulrushes or long reeds. The nest is a substantial mass of sedge 

 and rushes, carefully but somewhat loosely constructed, and as a 

 rule rests on the surface of the water when built in reeds or rushes, 

 but I have seen nests standing in tall bulrushes as high as 5 feet from 

 the water." 



According to Mr. H. Parker, the Moor-hen breeds in the North- 

 west of Ceylon in January and February . 



Mr. Gates writes from Pegu : " Nest with five eggs on 6th 

 August. This is, however, one of my finds which is not so well 

 authenticated as I should wish." 



This bird lays, as might be expected, similar eggs in India and in 

 Europe. I have compared numerous specimens from both localities, 

 and have found them almost undistinguishable. If any difference 

 is observable, it consists in the preponderance in Indian examples 

 of large well-defined markings, and in the English eggs of minute 

 specks. In size, however, Indian examples are less subject to 

 variation. The shell is compact and firm, with little or no gloss. 



