448 TETEAONIDiE. 



Excalfactoria chinensis (Linn.). The Blue-breasted Quail. 



Excalfactoria chinenais (Linn.), Jerd. B. Ind. i\, p. 591 ; Hume, Mongh 

 Draft N. ^ E. no. 83] . 



In the Sub-Himalayan districts and ranges this Quail lays from 

 the latter end of June till at least the second week in August. In 

 Cachar, Mr. J. Inglis tells me that it lays in June and July. In 

 the Malay Peninsula Davison took the eggs in March. The nest, 

 always on the ground, usually in the midst of low short grass, 

 though always close to thicker cover, is a mere depression in the 

 soil, more or less thinly hned with blades and fine stems of grass. 

 Six appears to be the usual complement of eggs, but in two cases 

 only five and four eggs respectively were found, a good deal incu- 

 bated. 



Captain Hutton tells me that it breeds in the lower warmer 

 valleys below Mussoorie in June and July, not commonly or 

 regularly but occasionally, and to him I owe a single egg taken in 

 July from a nest in one of the lower warmer valleys running into 

 the Dhoon. 



Dr. Jerdon says : — " In Purneah in the month of July it was the 

 only Quail I observed. It breeds in this month, the eggs being 

 pale olive-green." 



In the Colombo district of Ceylon, according to Colonel Legge, 

 this Quail breeds in May. 



Mr. Gates writes from Pegu : — "A nest found on the 14th July 

 was a mere pad of grass, placed in a clump of coarse grass. It 

 contained five fresh eggs. They are slightly glossy and rather 

 rounded. The ground-colour is olive-brown, and the shell is 

 speckled with a few minute reddish-brown spots. They measure 

 from 1-0 to -95 in length, by -77 to -7 in breadth." 



The eggs are broad ovals, as a rule decidedly pointed at one end, 

 and usually of a more or less pale, slightly olivaceous, drab or cafe- 

 au-lait \vith a faint olive tinge. Generally they exhibit some 

 minute specks and spots, varying in colour from purplish grey to 

 an obscure reddish brown. In some clutches these markings are 

 excessively minute and sparse ; occasionally they are almost 

 entirely wanting, while most commonly they are pretty thickly set, 

 with here and there a spot a fiftieth of an inch in diameter. 



The eggs are always rather dull, and, though the shell is 

 moderately fine and smooth, never seem to have more than a faint 

 gloss. 



They vary from 0-95 to I'O-l in length, and from 0-7 to 0-81 in 

 breadth ; but the average of a considerable series is 0-98 by 0'76. 



