12 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIL 



clutches of eggs by the middle of April. The nesting season of 

 the species, however, continues throughout that and the following 

 month, and probably also throughout June." 



The eggs appear to be laid on the ground in a slight hollow 

 scratched out by the parent bird in the sand and, as a rule, there 

 is absolutely no attempt made at concealment, the place selected 

 being one quite in the open, though on some occasions, slight 

 protection from sun and observation may be afforded by a stone, 

 small rock or tuft of grass. 



The full niimber of eggs laid is three, but two eggs are some- 

 times incubated. They are typical Sand-Grouse eggs in every 

 respect, being of the usual elliptical form and decidedly glossy, 

 especially when first laid, as they lose the gloss to some extent 

 after the}'' have been kept a few years. The texture is smooth and 

 close, but not very fine, and the eggs are rather brittle and fragile 

 for their size. 



The ground colour varies from greyish stone colour, pale dull 

 cream, pale yellowish grey, pale bufi" or greenish grey to a rather 

 warm buff stone colour, or stone colour with a distinct green tint. 

 Most eggs are, however, very pale and their pale dull colouration 

 generally is a distinct feature of this Sand-Grouse's eggs. The 

 superior makings consist of indefinite smudges, blotches and spots 

 of reddish brown, dull grey brown or dull rufous brown, the edges 

 often paler and merging into the secondary markings, Avhich are 

 pale lavender grey or purplish grej''. The markings, both surface 

 and sub-surface varj^ considerably in amount, sometimes being 

 rather sparse, at others rather numerous, but they are nearly 

 always distribute, fairly evenly over the whole surface of the egg. 



According to Oates the series in the British Museum collection 

 measure from 1*7" to 2" in length and from 1-23" to 1-33" in 

 breadth (^48-5 to 51 and 31-2 to 33-6nim.). With the exception 

 of three eggs, all those in my collection come within these limits. 

 The three exceptions measure 2-05", 2-07" and 2-10" (=52, 52-6 

 X 53' 2 mm.) in length, but are not as broad as the broadest of 

 the Museum eggs. Including these latter, the average of 68 eggs 

 I have measured is 1-86" x 1-27" = (47-5 x 29-8 mm.). Oates in 

 describing the Museum eggs says " The eggs of the Black-bellied 

 Sand-Grouse are, on the whole, very pale, and present a marbled 

 appearance." This " marbled " appearance is common to all the 

 Sand-Grouse eggs and together with their curious elliptical shape 

 make them resemble very remarkabl}^ the eggs of the Caprimulgidae 

 or Nightjars. 



Whitaker gives the average of the eggs measured b}^ him as 

 45 X 30 mm. 



