LOPnopHOEUs. 407 



hole scratched in the ground under a bush or tussock of high grass, 

 sometimes under shady trees quite exposed. The eggs are 

 generally of a creamy-white colour, and vary in number from 4 to 7. 

 The hen bird sits very close, and when disturbed leaves the nest 

 usually very reluctantly, walking slowly away with drooping wings, 

 the feathers of the neck raised, and uttering her peculiar trumpet- 

 like call." 



From the Mlghiris Miss Cockburn writes : — "The Peahen lays 

 from ten to fifteen eggs, and forms a nest by scratching a slight 

 place in the ground and gathering a few dry leaves and sticks. The 

 eggs are generally found in Juue and July, and are a dingy bufiy 

 white." 



Colonel Mclnroy found the nest of the Peafowl in Mysore on 

 the 25th April. 



In Ceylon, according to Colonel Legge, the Peafowl breeds from 

 January to AprU. 



The eggs are typical Easorial ones, much like gigantic Guinea- 

 fowl's eggs, with thick, \ery strong and glossy shells, closely pitted 

 over their whole surface with minute pores, which are, however, 

 more deeply indented and more conspicuous in some specimens than 

 others. In shape they vary much — some are very broad, some 

 decidedly elongated, ovals, so that some more resemble in shape an 

 English Pheasant's egg, and others are more like a Turkey's : all 

 are more or less pointed towards the small end. The colour, 

 within certain limits, also varies much : some are almost pure white, 

 others are a rich cafe-au-lait or reddish buff ; others again are dingy 

 yellowish buff, but typically they are a pale pinkish cafe-au-lait 

 colour. Occasionally specimens are met with thickly freckled with 

 pale reddish brown, feeble reproductions of the Moonal's eggs ; but 

 the vast majority are entirely unspotted. 



In length they vary from 2-55 to 3'0, and in breadth from 1-92 

 to 2-2 ; but the average of forty eggs is 2-74 by 2-05. 



Lophophorus impeyanus (Lath.). The Moonal. 



Lophophorua impeyanus {Lath.), Jerd. B. Ind, ii, p. 510 : Hume 

 Rough Braft N. 8f E. no. 804. 



The Moonal breeds throughout the forest-clad ranges of the 

 Himalayas, at any rate from Cashmere to Bhootan, at elevations of 

 from 7000 or 8000 to fully 12,000 feet. 



The breeding-season is in May and Juue. They have only one 

 brood, and the female alone incubates the eggs and rears the 

 young. 



Usually, the eggs are laid in a bare depression in the ground, 

 scratched by the female, under the shelter of some overhanging 

 rock, the massive root of some large tree, or some thick tuft of fern, 

 but at times the hollow is more or less lined with dry grass, dead 

 leaves, or a little moss. 



In localities where they are very numerous, e. g., on the " Chor" 



