FRANCOLINUS. 429 



from Gwalior to Ganjain. I believe that this line as nearly as 

 possible indicates the boundaries of the areas of distribution of 

 this and the next species ; and though in some few places F. pictus 

 does, I believe, straggle a little northwards of this artificial line, I 

 do not think that the present species anywhere crosses it south- 

 wards. 



It ascends the exterior ranges of the Himalayas throughout 

 their whole length to elevations of 5000 or 6000 feet, but it does 

 not, so far as my experience goes, cross the first Snowy Range. 

 The Himalayan birds, it may be well to note, average smaller and 

 are perhaps more brightly coloured than those of the plains of 

 Upper India and Sind, but they are in no way specifically sepa- 

 rable. 



Grass, tamarisk, or similar jungle are essential to the Black 

 Partridge, and they will rarely be found at any great distance from 

 these two requisites. During parts of the year they seem to make 

 their homes in densely-cropped cultivated lands, but it will always 

 be where jungle to which they can retreat, when the crops are cut, 

 is within reach. 



They lay mostly, I think, in June ; a few lay somewhat earlier 

 and later (I have found eggs in August), making their nests on the 

 ground in tamarisk or grass jungle, or in any thick crop near these 

 that may be standing (and there are few such) at that season ; of 

 these the small millets reaped in some parts of the country in July 

 are perhaps most often resorted to. 



The nest, composed of grass and grass-roots, dry bamboo, grass- 

 flag, or sugarcane-leaves, is somtimes very slight and loose, some- 

 times neater and more substantial ; usually it is placed in a de- 

 pression hollowed out by the bird, and again not unfrequently 

 there is scarcely any nest, only a lining to a hollow. It is always 

 perfectly concealed. 



They lay from six to ten eggs ; at any rate I have never known 

 more to be found, and in former days, when shooting in the Ganges 

 Kadir and the Terai in the hot weather, the beaters and dogs used 

 to find nests daily, and I have thus seen a great many. 



Captain Hutton remarks : " This is a common bird in the 

 Dhoon, and by no means rare in warm cultivated valleys far in the 

 hills. It breeds in the hills in June, and a nest taken by a friend 

 on whose accuracy I can rely, and who shot the old bird, contained 

 six eggs of a dull greenish-white colour. The egg appears very 

 large for the size of the bird, and tapers very suddenly to the 

 smaller end." 



Dr. Jerdon says : " The hen Partridge breeds from May to 

 July, laying ten or twelve eggs (sometimes, it is stated, as many 

 as fifteen) of a pale bluish-white colour, according to some writers; 

 but those I have seen were pale greenish when first laid ; and she 

 usually has her nest in the grass, sometimes in an indigo-field, and 

 occasionally in a sugarcane-field." 



Mr. Cripps found a nest with five fresh eggs, in the Western 

 Duars, on the 16th July. 



