426 TETBAONIDJE. 



G-alloperdix bicalcaratus (Penn.). The Ceylon Spur-fowl. 



Galloperdix zeylonensis (Gmel.\ Hume, Rough Draft N. fy E. no. 

 815 bis. 



Colonel W. V. Legge, writing from Ceylon, informs me that the 

 Ceylon Spur-fowl breeds there during the south-west monsoon, 

 and remarks as follows : " The nesting-season of G. bicalcaratus 

 would seem to extend over a considerable period, as I have had 

 fledged young brought me at the latter end of May, and have 

 taken the eggs myself on the 7th July in the same district, the 

 Southern Province. 



"The nest is situated in the forest or in thick jungle, under the 

 shelter of a rock or near the projecting root of a large tree. It 

 is merely a slight hollow scraped in the ground, with one or two 

 dead leaves in the bottom to serve as lining. I am unable to state 

 what the average number of eggs in the clutch is, as so little is 

 known of the nesting of this bird, the eggs in my own collection 

 being the only specimens I believe in the possession of any collector ; 

 they were taken from the same nest and are two in number. The 

 natives inform me that they lay four very often, and as I had four 

 young ones brought me once with the old bird, I dare say their 

 information is correct. They are oval in form and rather large in 

 diameter for their length. My two specimens measured respec- 

 tively 1-42 by 1-12 and 1-43 by 1-12. 



"They are of a uniform cream-colour, one of them having 

 small white calcareous polished specks all over it similar to those 

 seen on the eggs of the Cochin-China fowls at times. The old 

 bird was sitting on the nest at the time T found it and flew off with 

 great swiftness ; this I attribute, however, to my having come on 

 the nest suddenly, otherwise she would doubtless, as most birds 

 which nest on the ground do in similar cases, have left it 

 stealthily." 



Mr. Hart says : "The nesting-season of this Spur-fowl is not 

 restricted to a limited period. I have found the eggs myself in 

 February, May, and October ; it lays four to six eggs." 



Eggs sent me from Ceylon are moderately elongated ovals, very 

 similar to those of the other Spur-fowls, of a pale cafe-au-lait 

 colour, very smooth and fairly glossy, and varying from 1*44 to 

 1*55 in length and from 1/09 to 1/18 in breadth. 



Family TETEAONID^E. 



Tetraogallus himalayensis, Gr. E. Gray. The Himalayan 

 Snow-Cock. 



Tetraogallus himalayensis, Gray, Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 549 ; Hume, 

 Hough Draft N. $ E. no. 816. 



In the Upper Sutlej Valley, Lahul, and Spiti this species lays in 

 June, at elevations of from 12,000 to 17,000 feet. The eggs, 



