the Birds of Chinkiang. ys 
On July 30 I found a deserted nest on some marshy ground 
in the plain. It was a pad of rushes placed on the soil 
in a sedge-field. A tuft of grass was bent over so as to 
conceal it and form a shelter. Part of the shell of one egg, 
which had probably been eaten by rats, lay a few feet from 
the nest, inside of which were two fresh eggs, one of which 
had marks of the robbers’ teeth in the shape of small punc- 
tures. Both these eggs are very small (1°55 x 1:27" and 
1-49 x 1:28”) ; their colour is pale olive-buff. 
Another nest was shown to me on June 26, on the loéss 
hills. It was merely a hollow in a strip of long grass ad- 
joining a tennis-court in the Recreation Ground. The 
herbage growing around had been drawn over and locked 
together, so as to form a dome or roof over the eggs, which 
were seven in number and quite fresh. As the nest was 
known to a lot of native boys, and there was no chance of 
its being left undisturbed, I took the eggs. Three are pale 
buff and four pale olive-buff, all of a pointed-ovate shape. 
They average 1°78 x 1:28’; the largest is 1:80 x 1:30” and 
the smallest 1°75 x 1:27’".. There are evidently two broods 
in a season about Chinkiang. 
163. Corurntx communis Bonn. 
Styan, [bis, 1891, p. 500. 
164. Corurnrx sapontca Cassin. 
La Touche & Rickett, Ibis, 1905, p. 59. 
Both the common and the Japanese form of the Quail 
are abundant about Chinkiang in autumn and winter, and 
probably a few individuals remain to breed *. 
165. Turnix Bianrorpt Blyth. 
Styan, Ibis, 1891, p. 500. 
This species summers at Chinkiang and is very abundant 
in the early autumn. <A female shot on May 19 had finished 
laying eggs, so that the first broods are probably hatched early 
in June. Two females.shot on August 16 and September 7 
each contained a large soft ovum, measuring in one case 
about 0°60" and in the other about 0°40” in diameter. 
a. Partridges of any kind are unknown at Chinkiang. 
SER. IX.—VOL. I. c 
