426 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIL 



about 21 to 23 mm., and from gape 23 to 26 mm. The tail measures 

 from 101 to 127 mm. 



Hume says that the female is smaller than the male, but that he 

 has had but few specimens to judge from. The British Museum 

 series consists principally of unsexed birds, but from the few sexed 

 specimens there appears to belittle, if any, difference between them. 



Distribution. — The Alluvial Plains watered by the Ganges and 

 Brahmapootra from the North- West Provinces to the extreme East 

 of Assam. South of the Brahmapootra it is common in Cachar, 

 Sylhet, and Tippera, but does not extend into Arrakan. It is not 

 uncommon in many parts of the Sunderlands of Jessore, Khulna, 

 Barisal and Mymensingh, and is also found in the 24th Parganas. I 

 have never seen it myself in the Khasia Hills, nor do I know of any 

 country there at all suitable for it, but a wanderer might well range 

 up from the foothills of Sylhet where it is very common. 



Osmaston says it is rare in Gorukpore. 



Type Locality. — Cachar. 



Nidification. — There is but little on record about the breeding of 

 the Swamp Partridge beyond the description of the nest and eggs 

 taken by Mr. H. J. Rainey in Jessore, but nests have been taken by 

 Messrs. H. A. Hole, C. M. Inglis, Chas. Primrose and myself on many 

 occasions in various parts of S. Assam and the district of Goalpara. 

 They are early breeders, and most eggs are laid in the end of March 

 and early April, and some must be laid as early as February, as I have 

 had eggs brought to me in early March which were on the point of 

 hatching. Dr. H. N. Coltart and others have taken eggs in Behar in 

 the same two months, April and March, and Rainey's eggs were taken 

 in the former. In Mymensing, Tippera and Barisal they lay princi- 

 pally in the end of March, so that it would seem that throughout the 

 rather restricted range of this bird its breeding habits are the same, 



I have never found its nest anywhere but in reeds and heavy " nal " 

 in swamps, except in a few instances when it had been placed on 

 little half-submerged islands covered with cane brakes and a dense 

 undergrowth of weeds and rank grass. 



Generally it is placed in amongst growing and broken-down reeds 

 and nal actually standing in water, sometimes mere mud or water a 

 few inches deep, but sometimes in water of 18 inches or even greater 

 depth. The nest itself is quite well-built, a matter of necessity in so 

 precarious a position, and consists of a thick pad of rushes, grass and 

 weeds, some 8 inches to a foot across, the sides well raised and the 

 whole pad anything from 2 inches to 4 inches deep with a well-made 

 hollow for the eggs to rest in. Occasionally the nest may be taken 

 from amongst reeds on the dry banks or margins of swamps and 

 ponds, and then it is not quite so compact and well-made. 



