BHxircHOPS. 317 



" On the 28th April, 1870, 1 took over one hundred eggs of this 

 species ofi a sandbank in the Chenab, near Wuzeerabad. On the 

 6th April not one egg was laid. On the 28th almost all the de- 

 pressions (I cannot call them nests) contained four eggs ; many were 

 ready to hatch off, and there was not one quite fresh egg amongst 

 the lot. As usual, the eggs, which pertained to some thirty odd 

 pairs, were all placed in the same immediate neighbourhood, a 

 little apart from those of the other Terns and Swallow-Plovers 

 breeding on the same bank. The eggs were on perfectly bare sand. 

 Others portions of the bank were thinly sprinkled with tiny jhao 

 bushes, but they had chosen a perfectly bare flat, some 50 yards 

 from the water's edge and some 2 feet above its level. Whilst we 

 were robbing their eggs, they flapped lazily round about us, keeping, 

 however, out of shot and keeping up all the while a ceaseless 

 twittering cry. I may add that on the 9th April I took a few 

 quite fresh eggs of this species (which had obviously only just 

 commenced to lay) on sandbanks in the River Jhelum between 

 the station of that name and Pind Dadan Khau." 



The eggs of this species vary but little in size and shape. They 

 are moderately broad ovals, more or less pointed towards one end, 

 some having a very decided point, almost hke a Grebe's eggs. The 

 texture of the shell is fine and compact, and they have a slight 

 gloss. The ground-colour varies much, but the markings are 

 very characteristic and uniform in their character. These eggs 

 fade much, as indeed do most of those of this family ; but when 

 fresh the ground-colour exhibits a variety of delicate and beautiful 

 tints — pale pinky buff, cream, or stone-colour. Delicate greenish 

 or greyish white, pale cafe-au-lait, and pale salmon-colour are 

 amongst the most common. The markings consist of bold blotches 

 and streaks, chiefly the latter, of rich umber, chocolate, or reddish 

 brown, occasionally so intense as to be almost black, underlaid by 

 similar streaks and blotches of more or less pale inky purple. In the 

 majority of the eggs the markings, as a whole, have a remarkably 

 streaky character, the streaks running not parallel, but at an angle 

 of about 30° to the major axis, seeming to be, as it were, twisted 

 round the egg. The markings appear always to turn in the same 

 direction, and holding the egg with the broad end uppermost and 

 calling that the north, they have a set, if I might so describe it, 

 from N.N.E. to S.S.W. 



In length the eggs vary from 1-45 to 1"76, and in breadth from 

 1'08 to 1'28 ; but the average of one hundred and eight is 1'6 

 nearly by 1'18 I notice that the Punjab eggs are longer than those 

 of the North- West Provinces. Forty-three of the latter average 

 only 1"55 by 1'18, while sixty-five of the former average 1-63 

 nearly by 1'18. 



