MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 539 



these were hard set. Then scattered pairs were obtained up to the 5th June, 

 all hard set except the two latest pairs which were quite fresh and were 

 probably second layings. 



In every case the eggs were laid on the ground in the centre of patches of 

 sun grass or Uloo grass, generally of considerable size, far from human 

 habitation and almost invariably surrounded by dense jungles. 



The nest is very hard to find, as the hen bird is very cute, and unless taken 

 very much unawares never rises until she has run some distance from the 

 nest, seldom less than 50 to 100 yards, so that after putting up the parent bird 

 it is a labour of some time and difficulty to find the eggs. 



My Indian friend, who was so good as to look after the shikaries for me, 

 gives a very interesting account of this bird's habits, which is well worth 

 quoting. He writes : "A florican lays only two eggs a year in the breeding 

 season (April and May). Dense forests infested with ferocious animals, scarcely 

 trodden by men, are the places where eggs are laid on the ground. The bird 

 takes great precaution to conceal her eggs and you can hardly find any eggs 

 within a quarter of a mile from the place where a florican is seen. She creeps 

 through the forest unobserved to a great distance to lay her eggs. A very 

 careful and extensive search is required to discover them." 



In shape the eggs are typically very regular ovals, the ends being equal. They 

 vary considerably in the proportion of the length to the breadth, but otherwise 

 remarkably little in shape, though a few eggs are somewhat pointed at one end 

 and, in two or three instances, they are pointed at both ends. In many cases 

 the extremes of variation are found in a pair laid by the same bird. 



The colour is excaptionally constant, unlike that of the eggs of Syplmoti 

 aurita (The Lesser Florican), which varies very much. 



The ground is olive-green, in some rather brighter, in some rather more 

 brown. The markings consist of small freckles, splashes and blotches, generally 

 longitudinal, of brown and purple brown, rather more profuse at the larger 

 end of the eggs than elsewhere, but nowhere very numerous. In some, these 

 markings are all reduced to freckles and may then be very numerous and are 

 also, in such oases, very indefinite. 



In no eggs are the markings very bold. 



The average of twenty-seven eggs which I have seen is 2*4 1" x 1'75" and the 

 largest measured 2*76" in length and 1*85" in breadth and the smallest 2'28" 

 and 1-67''. 



When fresh the large majority of eggs are deoidedly a bright green olive- 

 green, but very soon after being blown the eggs become pale and in a year or 

 two become an olive-brown, in which biown is distinctly the dominant colour. 

 The gloss, also, which is very highly developed in newly taken eggs, fades much 

 with time, but years after they still retain a very large proportion of this. 

 Although two seems to be the invariable number laid, I once heard of four 

 eggs being seen in a clutch ; but these Were not taken and the authentication is 

 not beyond all doubt. 

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