THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 3 



Eggs, " 2nd Edit., iii., p. 449 ; Ogilvie-Grant, Oat. B. M., xxii. 

 p. 447 ; Blanford, Fauna of B. I. Birds iv., p. 147 ; Sharpe, Hand- 

 List i., p: 12 ; J. H. St. John, Journal, Bom. -N, H. S. xii., p. 

 213; Bntler,' iUd, p. 689; Gates, Oat. Eggs B. M., i., p. 15; 

 Ogilvie-Grant, Game B., ii., p. 165; Gates, Game B. of In., i., 

 p. 384; Le Mess, Game, Shore & Water Birds, p. 112. 



Megapodins trinJmtensis . — Sharpe, Ann. Mag. N. H., xiii., p. 

 448 ; Hume, Str. Feath., ii., p. 499. 



Vernacular names. — Kongah (JSIicoharese'). 



DescriiJtion — Adult Male and Female. — The feathers of the nape, 

 the sides of the head, and surrounding the posterior' portions of the 

 crown greyish ; chin and throat sparsely feathered with pale grey, 

 .sometimes rufescent, sometimes albescent. Remainder of plumage 

 rufescent brown, generally darker above than below. The lower 

 plumage is often a rufous grey, in a few cases becoming almost a 

 pure grey. 



The general tone of the upper plumage is usually rather a bright 

 rufescBnt, but is occasionally duller and rarely has a somewhat olive 

 tinge. 



The feathers round the neck are generally sparse, and this part is 

 often nearly bare, and in some specimens the feathers of the head 

 n,re also much abraded and knocked about. 



Ogilvie-Grant remarks about this species in a foot-note in the 

 British Museum Oatalogue (in he. cit.) : 



" Some specimens as has already been remarked by Lord Tweedale 

 have a curious tendency to lose the feathers on the crown and assume 

 a naked callosity. In a female adult from Nancoury I. the crown is 

 entirely naked, and covered with a thick black-looking skin, which 

 appears almost of the nature of a scab. The same peculiarity is almost 

 equally developed in an immature male from Camorta ; while in three 

 other specimens (both adult and immature) the crown is partially 

 denuded, and the skin is of the same black colour. In all the other 

 specimens the skin of the top of the head is red." 



" I am of opinion that the naked head in the above-mentioned 

 specimens is abnormal, and possibly caused by disease." 

 The sexes are alike in size, but vary a great deal individually. 

 Hume gives the following dimensions for a series of fifteen birds, 

 and also notes the colouring of the soft parts : — 



" Length, 14-5 to 17 ; expanse, 28-0 to 32-5 ; wing, 8 to 9-5 ; tail 



" from vent, 2-75 to 3-5 ; tarsus, 2-6 to 2-75 ; biU from gape, 1-2 to 1-3 ; 



" bill at front, 0*94 to 1-1 ; wings when closed, reach to within from 1" to 



" quite the end of tail ; in weight they vary from 1 lb. 5 oz. to 2 lbs. 2 oz." 



The above measurements probably inckide a large proportion of 



not quite mature birds, and I find that in the British Museum 



Collection of close on fifty skins no adults have a wing under 9*0" 



(228-6 mm.) and they run from this up to 9-8" (248-9 mm.) 



males and females alike being of the smallest and biggest sizes. 



The other measurements of these birds all come within those given 



by Hume. Richmond records the total leng-th of the males as 



