426 TETEAONIDiE. 



Gralloperdix bicalcaratus (Penn.). The Ceylon Spur-fowl. 



Galloperdix zeylonensis (Gmel.), Hume, Rough Draft N. Sf E. no. 

 815 bis. 



Colonel W. V. Legge, writing from Ceylon, informs me that the 

 Ceylon Spur-fowl breeds there during the south-west monsoon, 

 and remarks as follows : — " The nesting-season of O. bicalcaratus 

 would seem to extend over a considerable period, as I hare had 

 fledged young brought me at the latter end of May, and have 

 taken the eggs myself on the 7th July in the same district, the 

 Southern Province. 



" The nest is situated in the forest or in thick jungle, under the 

 shelter of a rock or near the projecting root of a large tree. It 

 is merely a slight hollow scraped in the ground, with one or t^i'o 

 dead leaves in the bottom to serve as lining. I am unable to state 

 what the average number of eggs in the clutch is, as so little is 

 known of the nesting of this bird, — the eggs in my own collection 

 being the only specimens I believe in the possession of any collector ; 

 they were taken from the same nest and are two in number. The 

 natives inform me that they lay four very often, and as I had four 

 young ones brought me once with the old bird, I dare say their 

 information is correct. They are oval in form and rather large in 

 diameter for their length. My two specimens measured respec- 

 tively 1-42 by 1-12 and 1-43 by 1-12. 



" They are of a uniform cream-colour, one of them having 

 small white calcareous pohshed specks all over it similar to those 

 seen on the eggs of the Oochin-China fowls at times. The old 

 bird was sitting on the nest at the time T found it and flew off with 

 great swiftness ; this I attribute, however, to my having come on 

 the nest suddenly, otherwise she would doubtless, as most birds 

 which nest on the ground do in similar cases, have left it 

 stealthily." 



Mr. Hart says : — " The nesting-season of this Spur-fowl is not 

 restricted to a limited period. I have found the eggs myself in 

 February, May, and October ; it lays four to six eggs." 



Eggs sent me from Ceylon are moderately elongated ovals, very 

 similar to those of the other Spur-fowls, of a pale cafe-au-lait 

 colour, very smooth and fairly glossy, and varying from 1*44 to 

 1-55 in length and from 1'09 to 1'18 in breadth. 



Family TETRAONID^. 



TetraogaUus himalayensis, G. E. G-ray. The Himalayan 

 Snow-Qoclc. 



TetraogaUus himalayensis, Oray, Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 549 ; Hume, 

 Rough Draft N. ^ E. no. 816. 



In the Upper Sutlej Valley, Lahul, and Spiti this species lays in 

 June, at elevations of from 12,000 to 17,000 feet. The eggs, 



