OCCASIONAL NOTES FROM SIKKIM.— NO. II. 453 



Hodgson in this is right, as he usually is in his descrip- 

 tions. 



It is interesting to see the very different ways different 

 species have of leaving their nests, usually those that build in 

 places fully exposed to view, fly hut a very short way, and 

 speedily return, making a great noise, either in a tiireatening or 

 beseeching tone ; whilst those that hide their nests cunningly 

 among moss, leaves, &c., often take refuge in trees close by, 

 and begin feeding in an unconcerned manner as if quite sure 

 that no human eye could discover their dwellings. Those that 

 nest on the ground, and are of an earthy color, slip quietly 

 away by either hopping or flying within a few inches of the 

 ground. Perhaps Fomatorhinus erythrogenys is our most 

 notable example of this mode of escaping. I have seen it 

 dozens of times leaving its nest, which is always on the ground, 

 and usually among undergrowth where numerous dry tree 

 leaves are lying about, and they, together with the brown soil, 

 render it almost undiscernible, so well do their tints blend 

 with the color of the bird, its brown ground color with the 

 soil, and its rusty neck patches with the scattered decaying 

 leaves. And as if it knew that the whitish colored under parts 

 were its weak points, it drops its brown wings and tail to hide 

 them, and hops and skims along close to the ground with a 

 ludicrous rolling gait caused by its raising neither wings nor 

 tail to balance itself for fear of exposing the white. It is an 

 excellent example of protective coloration, and of the way 

 birds conceal the parts likely to draw observation when occa- 

 sion demands. I have quite as often caught the male of this 

 species sitting on the eggs as the female. The numerous in- 

 stances of males taking their turn at sitting are one of the first 

 things to astonish a young birds'-nester in Sikkim, especially, 

 if his previous nesting experience has been confined to the 

 poultry yard, where the custom is for the female to do the sitting 

 part entirely, and the male to strut about and make a noise. 

 As a rule, when the pair are alike sombrely colored, the male 

 takes a turn on the nest, as also when they are alike gorgeously 

 clad, as in Psarisomus, but if the male be showy and his part- 

 ner dowdy, he is much too fine a gentleman to assist in these 

 little domestic affairs, Jerdon repeats the native statement 

 that the female Turnix taigoor leaves the egg-hatching business 

 entirely to her mate, and this is probably correct, for I have 

 invariably found the male of Tarnix plumbipes, the only Quail 

 <ve have got in these hills, doing the sitting part. This appears 

 to be a very anomalous state of affairs, which, no doubt, there 

 are good natural reasons for, though I cannot conceive what 



