738 JOURXAL, BOMBAY NATUBAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



thill scanty grass, about 2 feet high and about 2 yards in from 

 the edge of the grass patcli. Kot a hundred yards from the plot of 

 grass in which the eggs were deposited Avas a preserve, over a mile 

 long by a quarter broad, of very high dense grass, a far more likely 

 place, one would have thought, for so wary a bird to laj- its eggs." 



When the bird does lay its eggs in a vast stretch of grass, as is 

 sometimes the case in Kathiawar, it is said almost invariably to 

 choose some part wdiere the grass is shorter and more scanty than 

 elsewhere and also often to make use of some bare spot close to- 

 the outskirts of the field. 



The nest, found b}" Mr. Wenden, contained three eggs, one 

 found in it on the loth, one laid on the 16th and the third on the 

 1 8th ; this corresponds with Avhat we should expect and Avith 

 what I have heard from other obserA'^ers and it seems, therefore, 

 fairly certain that the species lays its eggs on alternate days. 



As a rule the full clutch of eggs consists of four, but often only 

 three are laid, sometimes but tAvo and very rarely five. I liaA^e- 

 never seen a clutch with fiA'e eggs myself, but Lieut. F. Alexander 

 re3orded that this number Avas sometimes laid and Mr. James 

 once found five chicks together. 



In shape the eggs are typicallj^ A^ery broad ovals, more spherical 

 than those of any of the other Bustards ; but for this they are' 

 hardly distinguishable from those of the Lesser Bustard, Otis tetrax,. 

 though on an aA^erage they seem considerably smaller. For in- 

 stance the average size of the 26 eggs of the Likh in the British 

 Museum collection is 1-82" x 1-6" (=about 46 x 40-6mni.)' 

 whereas the 23 eggs oJi Otis tetrax measure 2-07" x 1-51" (=about 

 52-6 x 38-2); these figures sheAving Avell the difference in com- 

 parative shape and size in the eggs of the tAvo species. 



Hume gives the average of tAventy-three eggs as 1"88" nearly 

 by rather more than 1-59" (=48 x 40-5mm.) and the average of 

 18 eggs Avhich liaA^e passed through liiA' hands and are not includ- 

 ed in any of the aboA^e is 1-84" x 1-6" (=46-8 x 40-3). 



The surface of the shell is veiy smooth, though pitted Avith tiny 

 ])ores, and there is ahvays considerable gloss, very highly develop- 

 ed in many" cases. The texture is fine and very close. 



Hume thus describes his series of eggs noAv in the British 



