FOR NORTHERN INDIA- 146 



little similarity. Both, however, are very 

 beautiful and remarkable. The eggs of the 

 bronze- winged jacana have a rich brownish- 

 bronze background, on which black lines are 

 scribbled in inextricable confusion, so that 

 the egg looks as though Arabic texts had been 

 scrawled over it. This species might well be 

 called " the Arabic writing-master." The eggs 

 of the water-pheasant are in shape like peg- 

 tops without the peg. They are of a dark rich 

 green-bronze colour, and devoid of any 

 markings. 



The nest of the handsome, but noisy, purple 

 coot (Porphyrio poliocephalus) is a platform 

 of rushes and reeds which is sometimes placed 

 on the ground in a rice field, but is more often 

 floating, and is then tethered to a tree or some 

 other object. From six to ten eggs are laid. 

 These are very beautiful objects. The ground 

 colour is delicate pink. This is spotted and 

 blotched with crimson ; beneath these spots 

 there are clouds of pale purple which have 

 the appearance of lying beneath the surface 

 of the shell. 



The white-breasted water-hen (Gallinula 

 phoenicura) is a bird that must be familiar 

 to all. One pair, at least, is to be found in 



