968 LOBIPLUVIA MALABAEICA. 



devoid of lining, and contained four eggs, which were on the point of hatching ; but the old bird was nowhere 

 to be seen ; on my returning the following day to identify the eggs, I found a Yellow-wattled Lapwing at the 

 nest, and three eggs hatched off, but the young nowhere to be found, though I searched diligently for them. 

 The eggs were pyriform in shape, of a stone-yellow ground-colour, blotched evenly all over with three shades of 

 sepia, the darkest and richest markings being the largest; under these were small greyish-blue blotches. The 

 egg which I took measured T46 inch in length by 1'12 in breadth. The- old birds, which were both present, 

 were very noisy, flying round and round like the last species, but not approaching so near to me. Layard 

 describes the eggs as " rich nankeen, plentifully spotted with rather large blotches, some of which are dark 

 brown, others grey, of a deeper or paler shade, and thickest at the obtuse end." The measurements he gives 

 are T58 inch in length by 1*25 inch in breadth. 



In India the Yellow-wattled Lapwing breeds in April and May throughout the plains and dry uplands. 

 According to Mr. Hume the nests are usually in waste lands, known in Upper India as " Osurmaidans," rarely 

 in ploughed lands, never on sand banks or in the close vicinity of rivers or tanks. He observes, "on one or 

 two occasions I have found the eggs overshadowed and more or less hidden by tufts of grass ; but usually the 

 nest is out iu the open, without any attempt at concealment. 



"The nest is a small circular depression scooped out by the bird, and entirely unlined, some 3 to 4 inches 

 in diameter and an inch in depth, and often with a little earth, or a number of tiny pieces of kunker, scraped 

 up against the margin all around, so as to deepen the cup. The eggs are always four in number." They are 

 described as " buffy or pale greenish or olive stone-colour, pretty thickly studded with spots, streaks, and 

 moderately-sized blotches of deep brown, interspersed with spots and streaks of pale olive-brown and dingy 

 inky purple." Average size of twenty-two eggs L45 by 1*07 inch nearly. 



GRALLil. 

 Fam. (ED1CNEMTD.F:*. 



Bill in one group stont and large, in the other smaller and somewhat slender. Wing long, 

 with a blunt tubercle at the point. Tail short, of 12 feathers. Legs long, the tarsus with 

 similar scales before and behind ; hind toe wanting ; toes webbed at the base. Eye large. 



Sternum with a single deep emargination. Stomach membranous. With no change of 

 plumage in the breeding-season. 



* The members of this family might perhaps, with greater propriety, be included among the Otidee as a subfamily : 

 but as the true Bustards are wanting iu Ceylon, I prefer to keep the Thicknees and Coursers separate by themselves. 



