THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 31 



amongst dead grass and leaves without any attempt at concealment. 

 The nest was wholly composed of dead leaves, chiefly of the common 

 fern, loosely laid together and without any lining." 



"It would, however, be more proper to say beds than nests ; for, 

 like those of the Plover, they are merely slight hollows, formed 

 by the nestling of the birds in dry soft spots or on the fallen 

 leaves." 



Seebohm (Eggs of British Birds) merely says that the nest is- 

 piaced on the ground and is little more than a hollow scratched in 

 the earth and lined with a few leaves and a little dry grass. 



The eggs appear to be always four in number, and I have no in- 

 formation as to any full clutch numbering less. Typically the eggs 

 are far more tern like in character than like snipes' eggs as one- 

 would have expected. As a rule they are broad ovals, distinctly 

 pointed at one end and sometimes slightly " peg top " in shape, but 

 never the actual peg top of the true snipes' eggs. The texture of the 

 eggs is fine and smooth and often has a considerable gloss, which 

 is more or less permanent, as I have eggs in my collection more than- 

 20 years old which still show a fine glossy surface. 



Hume thus describes his eggs : — " The ground colour varies from 

 pale yellowish white, through various shades of buff and buffy stone 

 colour to a reddish cafe-au-lait. The markings never very densely set 

 and at times very sparse, consist of different shades of brown, brownish- 

 yellow and brownish-red on the one hand, and greys, from sepia 

 to purple on the other. The former occur in moderate sized blotches, 

 spots and specks as primary markings. Often these are more 

 numerous in a cap or zone about the large end. Occasionally not a 

 single blotch or spot is one-tenfh of an inch in diameter, and nine 

 out of ten are little more than specks, but in other eggs many of the 

 blotches, especially about the large end, are a quarter of an inch and 

 upwards in length. The greys, pinkish, lavender, sepia occur as 

 small clouds, spots and smears, secondary not surface looking mark- 

 ings rarely either large or thickly set, except when amongst the 

 blotches of a zone or cap, when the eggs exhibit such." 



" A large series, chiefly Northern European, vary from 1-5 to VH 

 in length and from 1*3 to 1*5 in breadth. I have no Himalayan 

 eggs, but I suspect that like the birds they would average smaller 

 than European specimens." 



