THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 739 



Museum. " The eggs like those of the Great Bustard (which, 

 though smaller, they gi^eatly resemble), vary much in size, shape 

 and colouration, 



" Typically the}" are very broad ovals, with a feeble tendency to 

 a point at one end ; but Some are nearly sypherical, some are 

 purely oval, while one or two approach a Plover shape. 



" The shell, everywhere closeh' pitted with miniature pores, is 

 stout but smooth, and has always a slight, and at times a brilliant 

 gloss. 



" The ground colour varies from a clear, almost sap green, 

 through various shades of olive green, drab and stone colours, to 

 a darkish olive brown. I have seen no specimens exhibiting the 

 blue and bluish grounds occasionally met with in the eggs of the 

 Great Indian Bustard.'" 



"The markings are brown, reddish or olive brown, occasionally 

 with a purplish tinge, in some XQiy faint and feeble, obsolete, or 

 nearly so, a mere mottling, in others conspicuous and strongly 

 marked ; but in the majority neither very faint nor very conspi- 

 cuous. In character they are generally cloudy streaks, more or 

 less confluent at the broader end (from which they run down 

 parallel to the major axis) and more or less obsolete towards the 

 smaller end. Occasionally, however, they are pretty uniformly 

 scattered over the whole surface of the Qgg.'' 



" In size the eggs vary from 1-77 to 2-06 in length, and from 

 1-5 to 1-7 in breadth ; but the average of twentj^-three eggs is 1-88 

 nearly, by rather more than 1*59.'' 



The eggs in my own collection agree well with the above but 

 there is one pair which deserves separate description. These have 

 the ground colour a most beautiful green grey, very pale and 

 almost silver in tone. The markings are as described by Humer. 

 but are unusually bold and stand out conspicuously on the pale 

 ground, making them both very handsome. 



* The two photographic plates in this Number and the one of the Houbara at 

 page 330 in the last Journal, are from photographs taken by H. H. the Rao of 

 Cuteh, a sportsman with an intimate acquaintance with these birds and their 

 habits and one who has supplied me with many interesting details regarding- 

 them. 



(To he continued.') 



