326 On Gray's Bare-throated Francolin.


which, though I believe usually very fattening, does not seem to

have hurt them in the least, which I attribute to the fact of their

having a good deal of room and being very active, continually

running backwards and forwards.


They are extremely fond of worms and scratch the earth

and grass up a good deal in their search for them.


Although living outside almost altogether, they had access

to a wooden shed with plenty of dry sand in which they delighted

to dust themselves. At first they agreed well together, but

about the beginning of April I noticed that the hens always

kept to their run on one side of the aviary, while the cock had

his on the other side and was very savage if the hens trespassed,

driving them away immediately. Towards the end of the mouth

they seemed to get on better however, but still there was no

grass and only a few nettles. In the next compartment, how¬

ever, in which were some Rain Quails, there was a fine crop of

nettles, and so, on the 30th, I changed them round, putting the

Fraucolins into the run with nettles two feet high and the Quails

into the other. They seemed to like the change and very soon I

saw the cock coming through the nettles with wings drooped and

face inflated, showing off to one of the hens.


On May 7th I found an egg laid in a comparatively deep

hollow under some fir branches. There were a few pieces of

grass in and about the nest, but it could not be called a lining.


The egg looks at first glance a sort of dirty white all over,

but on examining it more closely it is found to be minutely

speckled with chalky-white. The crow of the cock has been

compared, not altogether inaptly, to the bray of a donkey: to me

it is not an objectionable sound. It has also several softer

guttural notes. But hard indeed is the aviculturist’s lot! just

when things seem at their best and hopes are highest there comes

a blow.


The next day, May 8th, the hen was found to be egg-

bound. The miserably cold weather probably accounted for it,

but still I do not fancy it is common for so large a bird to be

egg-bound. I immediately took her into a warm kitchen and



