THE KYAH OR SWAMP PARTRIDGE. 6$ 



Very LITTLE is known of the nidification of this species. In 

 fact, the only record I have about it is a note sent me by Mr. 

 H. J. Rainey, with a nest and five eggs taken by him near 

 Khoolna in Jessore. He says : — 



" I took the nest, which had been discovered and marked for 

 me by one of my tenants, on the 13th April 1875. On approach- 

 ing the spot, we heard the loud cackling of the bird, as if it had 

 been disturbed by our approach ; and, on drawing close, she (for 

 I suppose it was the female) rose and flew away. I had no 

 gun, so did not shoot her, but saw her so distinctly that there 

 could be no possible mistake about the matter. 



" The nest was placed on the ground in a patch of khar and 

 kashiya, i.e., thatching or serrated grass and spontaneous sugar- 

 grass ( Andropogon serratum and Saccharum spontaneum), close 

 to the margin of a dry tank covered with dense jungle, and 

 about half a mile from the nearest human habitation. 



" The nest was rather neatly constructed of the thatching 

 grass ; circular in shape, about seven inches in diameter, one 

 and a half in thickness at the sides, and perhaps half an inch 

 in the centre. The nest was fitted into a saucer-shaped 

 depression in the ground, and the egg cavity was about four 

 inches in diameter and two in depth. 



" The eggs, five in number, were all perfectly fresh and still 

 quite warm when I removed them." 



The eggs are broad ovals slightly pointed towards one end, 

 and one or two of them slightly compressed there. The shell 

 is stout, full of pores, but withal glossy. In colour the eggs are 

 somewhat pale cafe ait lait, and all exhibit somewhat more or 

 less distinctly a pale purplish or purplish brown speckling or 

 stipling about the larger end ; one or two of them also show 

 signs of similar markings in other portions of the egg. Though 

 very much smaller and fainter, these markings indicate an 

 approach to Caccabis chnkor. 



These five eggs vary from 1*44 to 1 5 iu length, and from r\6 

 to 1*23 in breadth. 



Hodgson, I may add, notes that this species lays from 10 to 

 l S e ggs, but I do not gather that he himself ever took a nest. 



I HAVE BUT few measurements of this species ; but gather that 

 the females are smaller than the males. A male measured : — - 

 Length, 15*5 ; expanse, 2375 ; wing, 7*25 ; tail from vent, 4-5 ; 

 tarsus, 2*5 ; bill from gape, roi ; weight, 18 ozs. Another:— 

 Length, 147 ; expanse, 2r6; tarsus, 27 ; bill from gape, Y2. 



The bill in the male is black, whitish horny at the extreme tip 

 of the upper mandible ; in the female it is rather browner ; the 

 irides deep brown ; skin of eyelids obscure greenish grey ; the 

 legs and feet litharge red ; spurs and claws horny brown. 



