]o8 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



horizontally, and there was nothing in the 

 way of a ledge to alight on at the 

 entrance, so the bird must have popped 

 in as a pigeon does." 



The nest is generally composed of 

 dead leaves and grass on a foundation 

 of a few sticks. The eggs vary in number 

 from eight to fifteen or twenty, and, in 

 one remarkable instance mentioned by 

 the late Mr. A. Anderson, they numbered 

 forty. In shape many of the eggs are 

 regular ellipses, others are slightly more 

 pointed at one end than at the other. 

 They are remarkably smooth, and they 

 have a large amount of gloss when first 

 laid. In colour they are creamy white. 

 They measure from 2*2 to 2*6 in length, 

 and from 1*65 to r8 in breadth. 



The male has the head and neck white, 

 mottled with black, but more thickly on 

 the crown than elsewhere. The mantle 

 and the whole lower plumage are white, 

 each feather, for some time after the 

 autumn moult, having a narrow black 

 margin. The sides of the body are pale 

 grey ; the axillaries black ; the under 

 wing-coverts black, with some of the 

 central feathers margined with white. The 

 upper back, the scapulars, the lesser 

 coverts, and the inner secondaries are 



