THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 216 



cafe-ati-lait or cream, but range from a pale cream to an almost 

 chocolate buff. Almost invariably they are covered with specks, small 

 blotches and stipplings of white, in some cases of a somewhat chalky 

 appearance, but often looking merely as if the colonring pigment 

 on the shell was wanting. 



In shape they are remarkably constant, being broad ovals with the 

 smaller end obtuse and not greatlj^ differing from the larger. The 

 shell is stouter and stronger in comparison than that of a Jungle- 

 Fowl or Kalij Pheasant, the textm-e is close and very hard and often 

 has a distinct gloss. 



The average size of eighty eggs is 1-80" x 1-40" (45-7 x 35-5 

 mm.). In length they vary between 1-73'' and 1-9" (43-9 and 

 48-2 mm.) and in breadth between 1-30" and 1-48" (33 and 

 37-6 mm.). 



Many years ago the manner in which the hen pheasant screened 

 her chicks under her tail was recorded and Hume also refers to this 

 curious habit. He says : 



" A Bantam hen was employed as a foster mother and the 



" chicks ivoidd, follow close behind her, never coming in front to 



"take food, so that, in scratching the ground, she frequently struck 



" them with her feet. The reason for the young keeping in her 



" rear was not understood until, on a subsequent occasion, two 



" chicks were reared by alien P. tibetanum, when it was observed 



" that they always kept in the same manner close behind the 



" mother, who held her tail widel}^ spread, thus completely 



' ' covering them ; and there they continually remained out of sight, 



"only running forward when called bj- the hen to pick up some 



" food she had found, and then immediately retreating to their 



" shelter." 



I was once fortunate enough to observe this same behaviour in 



a wild bird. I was riding along a narrow, twisting forest path, the 



ground covered with moss and so soft and wet that my pony's feet 



fell almost noiseless with each step. As I turned one corner I 



noticed a Peacock-Pheasant scurrying along in front of me, and 



pressing forward on my pon}^ I forced her to half Qj, half scuttle 



into the bushes, and as she did so noticed two tiny chicks appeared 



from under her tail and dived after her, 



The cock bird is not, I think, polygamous. As a rule each pair 

 of pheasants seems to have a well defined area, within which no 

 other birds are allowed to enter during the breeding season, and 

 although once the young have left their parents they are never found 

 in flocks, they seem to remain in pairs all the year round ; at all 

 events, if a bird of one sex is shot or trapped, a second of the 

 opposite sex is almost always sure to be found close b}^ 



Habits. — On the whole, the Grey Peacock-Pheasant is a bird neither 

 of the higher hills nor of the Plains. It is true that it wander^ up 



