48 THE SEESEE. 



Captain Cock writes : — 



f< I have taken several nests of this bird near Nowshera, 

 in the low adjacent hills, dry, parched, and barren places, 

 which only a strong love of ornithology would ever tempt 

 a man to enter during the month of May, when the heat 

 is nearly unbearable. The nest is placed under a ledge 

 of rock or between some stones. I once found one under a 

 cairn of stones that had been erected by the herd boys. They 

 lay from eight to twelve eggs, stone cream colour, pointed at both 

 ends, in shape and size resembling the eggs of Podiceps 

 pJiilippinensis. The nest scarcely deserves the name ; a few dry 

 bents, one or two feathers, and a hole in the ground, is all the 

 nest they prepare for the reception of their eggs." 



Mr. C. Browne again remarks : — 



" Here, in the Salt Range, the Seesees begin laying about the 

 first week in April ; a full nest cannot be found before the end 

 of April. In exceptional cases, a single bird may begin laying 

 in the last week of March ; by the end of May almost every 

 clutch has hatched off. 



"The number of eggs in each nest varies from 10 to 14; 

 the natives assert that 20 eggs are sometimes found in a nest, 

 but I believe that this is a mistake. Possibly at times two hens 

 may lay in the same nest. 



" The eggs, I find, vary much in shape ; some are long and 

 decidedly pointed at one end ; others are comparatively short 

 and do not go off into nearly so much of a point. 



"The nest is generally placed amongst stones, on bare 

 ground, on the hill side ; a mere hollow, thinly lined with grass, 

 often overhung and shaded by some bush or rock ; at times, 

 especially when in more inaccessible places, entirely open 

 to view, with no shelter whatsoever anywhere near it." 



The eggs of this species are quite of the Bush Quail type, 

 and though slightly larger, are very close to those of Microperdix 

 erythrorliyncha. In shape they are more or less lengthened ovals, 

 more or less compressed or pointed towards one end ; some are 

 slightly pyriform, and others, though these are the exceptions, 

 more of the true Partridge shape. The texture of the shell is 

 comparatively fine and close, but it is everywhere pitted with 

 minute pores, which, however, are much less visible in some 

 specimens than in others. Some of the eggs have a faint gloss; 

 in others this is scarcely traceable. In colour they vary a good 

 deal : some are almost pure white, but the majority have a 

 very perceptible creamy or very pale cafe au lait tinge. 



In length they vary from 1*3 to 1-51, and in breadth from 0*98 

 to i'i ; but the average of thirty-three is 1*42 nearly by i"02 

 nearly. 



