I SO THE INDO-MALAYAN BUSTARD-QUAIL. 



from Sikhim and Burma are undistinguishable from others from 

 Salem (Madras), Jhansi, &c. ; and there is no such difference in 

 the eggs as to afford independent evidence of the distinctness 

 of the two forms. 



Typically the eggs are broad short ovals, much compressed 

 and somewhat pointed towards one end ; but some are very regu- 

 lar ovals, scarcely smaller at one end than the other, and very 

 obtuse at both ; some again are nearly spherical, while peg-tops 

 in the exaggerated form, not uncommon in the eggs of the In- 

 dian bird, seem very rare amongst those of the present species. 



The shell is fine and the eggs are decidedly glossy. The 

 ground colour varies from greyish or creamy white to a pale 

 brown stone colour, and they are stippled all over with excessive- 

 ly minute dots of what, unless closely looked into, appears to be 

 dusky brown, and in some eggs almost black, but which is really 

 a mixture of yellowish and reddish brown and pale purple and 

 black specks. Some eggs have no other markings, but most of 

 them exhibit a greater or less number of larger spots and 

 blotches either black or a deep brown that is almost black. These 

 markings are almost confined to the large end ; at any rate the 

 larger blotches scarcely ever occur anywhere else, and even 

 there it is only quite exceptionally that they are numerous or 

 thickly set. In some eggs the stippling is coarser and more 

 strongly defined, and the black specks predominate, so that, 

 looked at from a distance, one might describe the eggs as cream 

 colour, thickly speckled all over with dull black. This type of 

 egg rarely exhibits any large blotches. 



In length the eggs vary from 0*93 to 1*04, and in breadth from 

 071 to 0*85 ; but the average of twenty-five eggs was C96 by 

 077. 



The FOLLOWING is an abstract of a large series of measure- 

 ments of both sexes from the Malay Peninsula, Tenasserim, 

 Calcutta, Sikhim, and the Dun : I mention this, because, 

 though individuals vary in size greatly, there is no local variation 

 in magnitude, some birds from each locality being large and 

 some small : — 



Males. — Length, 5*6 to 6*25 ; expanse, 10*9 to 12-3 ; wing, 3*12 

 to 3-5 ; tail from vent, 09 to 1*2; tarsus, 0*9 to ro ; bill from 

 gape, 0*65 to 073 ; weight, r6 ozs. to 2 ozs. 



Females. — Length, 6'12 to 67 ; expanse, 1175 to 1275 ; wing, 

 3*4 to 37; tail from vent, ro to 1*4; tarsus, 0-95 to ri2; bill 

 from gape, 07 to o f 8i ; weight, 1*5 ozs. to 2* 56 ozs. 



The legs, feet, and claws are slaty or leaden blue or plum- 

 beous, the claws often paler ; the bill varies through the same 

 shades and is often, not always, tinged brownish on the culmen 

 or even on all but the basal portions of the upper mandible ; 

 the irides are pearly, ashy, or dirty white ; eyelids plumbeous 



