THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 1127 



three nor four eggs are ever laid by one bird and the freqnent 

 stories recorded to this effect are groundless. It is very noticeable 

 that of the two eggs laid incubation is generally far more advanced 

 in one than the other, and the)" would appear to be laid at an 

 interval of several daj^s. My own collectors told me that when 

 th&Y found a single egg laid they often waited three to five days 

 before the second was deposited. 



Incubation would seem to take about 25-27 daj^s, though this is 

 ovlj guess work. A pair found on the 5th May, and which, when 

 tested in luke warm water, proved to be fresh, were eventually 

 hatched on the 30th of that month and 2nd June, though neither 

 chick survived more than a few hours. 



In shape the eggs are typicall}'" very regular ovals, the ends 

 being equal. In proportion of length to breadth they vary con- 

 siderably, but remarkably little otherwise, though a few eggs may 

 be somewhat pointed at one end and in a few other instances at 

 both ends. Curiously enough the extremes of variations are 

 often met with in pairs of eggs laid by the same bird. 



In colouration this bird's egg is peculiarly constant, unlike the 

 eggs of Syplieotis aurita (the Lesser Florican) which vary very 

 greatljr inter se. The ground colour is an olive green, in some 

 cases rather brighter, in some rather more brown. The very few 

 exceptions to this ground colour in my collection are one pair 

 with a pale olive green, almost sea green, tint, and another pair 

 with a pale stone grey colour. 



The markings consist of small freckles, splashes and blotches, 

 generally longitudinal in character, of brown and purple-brown, 

 rather more profuse at the larger end than elsewhere, but nowhere 

 very numerous. In some eggs these markings are all reduced to 

 freckles, and in these eggs they are often very numerous, very 

 indefinite and often equally distributed over the whole surface. 

 In no eggs are the markings at all bold in character. In a few 

 eggs, not, I think, one in ten, there are a few secondary markings 

 of purple grey or dark lavender grey, but they are very indistinct 

 and, from the colour of the ground, hard to distinguish. 



The average of 62 eggs is 2-42" x 1-76" ( = about 62-5 mm. x 

 44-8 mm.) and the greatest length and breadth 2-76" and 1-85' 



