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



Most birds, however, will be found breeding in these hills between 

 2,000 and 4,000 feet. They make no real nest, but lay their eggs 

 in some small hollow, either scratched out by themselves or a natu- 

 ral one, not infrequently they are laid on the flat ground, and are 

 only kept together by the fallen leaves and rubbish under and 

 around them. The majority of nests will be found in fau'ly thick 

 scrub jungle, forest or bamboo jungle, and the latter, especially 

 where there is plentiful undergrowth, is a favourite breeding haunt 

 over much of its area. It does not appear necessary for the jungle 

 to be very extensive, and in Chota Nagpore it was sometimes found 

 breeding in quite small patches of Scd and scrub surrounded with 

 small fields of cultivation. 



The number of eggs laid is 2 to 5, and undoubtedly the normal 

 full clutch is 3. I have never seen more than 4 myself, one taken 

 by Mr. Vidal and one taken by Mr. J. Davidson in Kanara. The 

 latter, who took very many nests of this Spur-Fowl in Kanara and 

 Nasik, never found more than 4 in a clutch, and that number only 

 two or three times in some 50 or 60 clutches. On the other hand 

 two eggs only are often found incubated. 



The stories of the large number of eggs laid seem to be founded 

 only on native reports; Miss Cockburn, who made many of her 

 notes on such authority, says that they lay from 6 to 10 eggs, but 

 she writes of the Nilgiris where everyone else has found only 2, 3, 

 or rarely 4 eggs in a clutch except Davison, who says he has rarely 

 found more than 5. Hume t/iinlcs it lays from 4 to 7 eggs, but 

 apparently he too writes on rumours chiefl};-, though it must be 

 noted that Darling records one nest of 7 eggs and two of 5. 



The eggs are miniature fowls eggs, on the whole rather narrower 

 in proportion to their length, and perhaps slightly more pointed. 

 The shell is very stout, and the texture fine and close, and the sur- 

 face smooth and often with a slight gloss. 



Hume gives the average of 25 eggs as 46-6 x 34-0 mm. 36 mea- 

 sured by myself have averaged much smaller, i. e., 38'9 x 29-2 mm., 

 whilst the average of Hume's eggs now in the British Museum is 

 42-8 X 31-8 mm. The largest egg both in length and breadth I 

 have been able to measure is 46-9x36-3 mm., and the smallest in 

 both length and breadth is 37-7 x 28-1 mm. 



It is probable that these birds pair for life ; the cock is certainly 



monogamous and keeps close to the hen whilst she is sitting and 



helps her to rear and look after the chicks when hatched. The 



hen is a very close sitter, and Hume writes that he has twice known 



.one to be caught by natives on the nests. 



General Habits. — The Eed Spur-Fowl is found from practically 

 the level of the Sea up to 5,000 feet, wandering above this up to 

 6,000 feet, and even 7,500 feet, but it does not appear to be found 

 anywhere in the true plains ; it is essential that there should be 



