GALLTJS. 421 



Mahftbleshwur, where the bird is not uncommon, I have often 

 caught the little chicks in the hot whether, and coolies that I have 

 employed as beaters used constantly to find the eggs when I was 

 out shooting. 



" At Mount Aboo, though somewhat scarce now on the top of 

 the hill, it is very plentiful in the jungles on the side of, and at the 

 foot of, the hill. It begins to lay at the end of March, and I fancy 

 lays through April and May, after which the fine wild crow of the 

 old cock ceases. 



" I have never heard of its breeding at any other season at either 

 of the places I have mentioned. 



" All of the eggs that I have seen have been of the type you 

 describe, namely long ovals with a slight gloss, of a pale creamy- 

 white colour, and very like small hen's eggs." 



Writing from Kotaghery in the Nilghiiis, Miss Cockburn 

 remarks: " The hen forms her nest in woods on the ground, 

 gathering a few dry leaves and sticks about her. The number of 

 eggs found in a nest is from seven to thirteen. They are of a dirty 

 white or buff colour. The hen, when leaving the nest to seek food, 

 generally covers the eggs with dry leaves, no doubt hoping by so 

 doing to screen them from harm. These nests are found during 

 March and April. I have on two or three occasions set Jungle- 

 fowls' eggs under domestic hens and reared the young. It was 

 amusing to see how soon they showed signs of their wild nature. 

 When about a fortnight or three weeks old, their wing-feathers 

 were so long as to enable them to fly up into trees at any moment, 

 while their foster-mother stood below wondering at an accomplish- 

 ment she never witnessed in her own progeny. At night they 

 much preferred roosting on some tree in the garden, and when a 

 few months old they invariably went off to the woods." 



On the other hand, Mr. Davison, referring more particularly to 

 his experience at Neddivattam, on the other side of Ootacamund, 

 says : " The Grey Jungle-fowl breeds in October, November, and 

 December. There never is any nest to speak of, the eggs merely 

 being laid on some dry leaves, under clumps of trees, or a bush far 

 in the jungle. The number of eggs in a nest apparently varies 

 from six to ten." 



Dr. Jerdon again tells us : " The hen lays from February to 

 May, generally laying from seven to ten eggs of a pinky-cream 

 colour, under a bamboo-clump." 



Lastly, Mr. Wait, writing from Conoor, informs me that " the 

 Grey Jungle-fowl also breeds here. The egg is oval, of a deep 

 buff colour, and measures 1'75 by 1*25. 



"They lay in May and June." 



According to this, these irregular birds lay in different parts of 

 the Nilghiris from October to June a fact which requires further 

 verification. It must, however, be borne in mind that different 

 portions of the Nilghiris are more or less respectively under the 

 influence of the north-east and south-west monsoons, and that this 

 may materially affect the breeding-season of this species, as it does 

 of the Herons and other AVater-birds. 



