20 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIl, 



from about November to March, or April and occasionally again in 

 July and August. I have a pair of eggs taken in June, and Hart 

 found them in October. Possibly February and March are the two 

 months in which most eggs are laid. 



The nestins' arrangements are much the same as those of the Eed 

 and Painted Spur-Fowls. No real nest is made, but the eggs are 

 laid in some shallow hollow under the protection of a bush or thick 

 clump of creepers or grass, and the only lining is the mass of fallen 

 debris carpeting the whole forest. The site selected appears always 

 to be in very thick cover, and, preferably, in evergreen forest with 

 dense undergrowth. 



Undoubtedly the number of eggs most often laid is tw^o. Wait 

 says " usually two, sometimes more, " but I understand that three 

 is the largest number he has personally seen or taken. Legge 

 found two only, but the natives told him that they laid up to four, 

 and Hart records it as laying from 4 to 6 eggs. Personally I have 

 never seen a genuine clutch of more than three, but believe four 

 may rarely be found. 



They are like other Spur-Fowls' eggs, but of a warmer tint of 

 buff or cafe-au-lait, and are not so elongated. 



The eggs measured by W. E. Wait averaged 1-60" x 1-16" 

 (42-1 X 30-4 mm.), but 3 in my collection and a few others which 

 have passed through my hands average only o9-l x 28-9 mm. The 

 largest 40*2 x 29-0 mm. and 39*0 x 29'5 mm. and the smallest 

 38-0 X 28-4 mm. and 39-4 x 28-3 mm. 



Like other Spur-Fowls, the Ceylon bird is monogamous, and the 

 cock and hen remain together throughout the year. 



General Habits. — The Ceylon Spur-Fowl may be found within the 

 damper regions of Ceylon at all heights from the broken ground of 

 the foot hills up to 4,500 feet or even 5,000 feet, and according 

 to Wait " spreads further into the dry flat country between the hills 

 and the sea" on the South-East. Ample cover is essential. Legge 

 records that : — 



" The shy habits of this bird would prevent its being detect- 

 " ed in most places where it is even abundant, were it not for 

 " its noisy cries or cackling, so well known to all who have 

 "wandered in our Ceylon jungles. 



" It frequents tangled brakes, thickets in damp nullahs, 

 " forest near rivers, jungle over hill sides, and in fact any kind 

 " of cover which will afford it entire concealment. 



" It runs with great speed, and has the knack of noiselessly 

 " beating a retreat at one time, while at another it ventrilo- 

 " quizes its exciting notes, until the sportsman becomes fairly 

 " exasperated, and gives up the attempt he has made to stalk 

 ' it in disgust. I have more than once endeavoured to cut off 

 " its retreat or flush it by rushing into a little piece of jungle 



