THE BLACK PARTRIDGE OR COMMON FRANCOLIN. 1 5 



in the Himalayas at any rate, they are common at 6,000 feet ; 

 and I have shot them a thousand, and indeed perhaps fifteen 

 hundred, feet higher.* 



They breed, therefore, from an elevation of at least 6,000 feet 

 down to nearly sea level. 



They lay mostly, I think, towards the end of June and dur- 

 ing the first half of July ; a few lay somewhat earlier and later 

 (I have found eggs in August). They make their nests on the 

 ground in tamarisk or grass jungle, or in any thick crop near 

 these that may be standing (and there are few such) at that 

 season ; of these, the small millets reaped in some parts of the 

 country in July are perhaps most often resorted to. 



The nest, composed of grass and grass-roots, dry bamboo, 

 grass-flag, or sugarcane leaves, is sometimes very slight and 

 loose, sometimes neater and more substantial ; usually it is 

 placed in a depression hollowed out by the bird, and again, not 

 unfrequently, there is scarcely any nest, only a lining to a hollow. 

 It is always perfectly concealed, and without good dogs hard 

 to find. 



They lay, according to my personal experience, from six to 

 ten eggs. At any rate I have never known more to be found, and 

 in former days, when shooting in the Ganges Kadar and the 

 Tarai in the hot weather, the beaters and dogs used to find nests 

 daily ; and in the hills also I have seen many. 



Captain Hutton remarks : — "This is a common bird in the 

 Dun, and by no means rare in warm cultivated valleys far 

 in the hills. It breeds in the hills in June, and a nest taken 

 by a friend, on whose accuracy I can rely, and who shot the old 

 bird, contained six eggs of a dull greenish white colour. The 

 egg appears very large for the size of the bird, and tapers very 

 suddenly to the smaller end." 



Dr. Jerdon says : — " The hen Partridge breeds from May to 

 July, laying ten or twelve eggs (sometimes, it is stated, as many 

 as fifteen-f-) of a pale bluish white colour, according to some 

 writers ; but those I have seen were pale greenish when first 

 laid ; and she usually has her nest in the grass, sometimes in 

 an indigo field, and occasionally in a sugarcane field." 



Mr. Cripps writes to me : — " I found a nest in the Western 

 Duars on the 16th July, containing five perfectly fresh eggs. At 

 the foot of a tuft of grass was a hollow of the size of a soup 

 plate, which the birds had partially lined with roots and blades 

 of grass, and in this were laid the eggs. All around was a 

 dense growth, three feet high, of grasses and weeds. The ground 



* Writing from Kullu, Mr. Young says : "In one of the lateral valleys of the 

 Parbutti, however, it is found on a sloping plateau in Herkundi Kothi, at an elevation 

 of fully 7,000 feet. 



+ Although frequently laying as many as ten eggs, at any rate, I agree with Mr. 

 Greig that it is extremely rare to see any thing like this number of three-parts grown 

 birds with the old ones. T have seen six or seven, but I dare say three or four would 

 be nearer the average of three-parts grown broods. 



