THE LITTLE BUTTON QUAIL. 197 



nately cracked it while plucking the bird. On the same day 

 I came on four young chicks, certainly not more than a day 

 or two old. 



" The nest, like that of T. taigoor^ is a well made pad of grass. 

 One I took at Sholapur was placed in a field of low bajra and 

 was formed in a hollow on the ground, — such a hollow as would 

 be caused by the imprint of a cow's foot, — which was well lined 

 with fine grass. The eggs seem never to exceed four in num- 

 ber, and are placed like those of Plover with the small end 

 in the centre." 



Captain E. A. Butler writes to me:—" On the 27th July 1875 

 I found a Little Button chick, about half grown, in a grass 

 reserve near Deesa. In this case the eggs must have been 

 laid in June. The old bird rose at my feet in some thick coarse 

 grass, and on looking down I saw the young one trying to 

 hide itself under a tussock. It could scarcely fly, and I 

 caught it, took it home, and reared it in a cage. In confine- 

 ment it lived almost exclusively on white ants until full grown, 

 after which it fed upon seed. On the 1 8th July 1876 I caught 

 two young birds, about a month or five weeks old, in the same 

 reserve, so that in this case the eggs must have been laid about 

 the 25th May. On the 29th July, in the same place, I found 

 a nest containing four fresh eggs. The nest was a mere 

 depression in the ground, scratched apparently by the old birds, 

 with a scanty lining of short pieces of dry grass, &c, similar 

 in every respect to the nest of T. taigoor. The eggs, however, 

 are smaller than the eggs of that species, of a pale yellowish 

 white colour, covered all over, but most densely at the large end, 

 with bold spots and blotches of blackish brown underlaid with 

 numerous specks, spots, &c, of yellow and pale lavender." 



I have seen too few eggs of this species to be certain of the 

 fact, but it appears to me that the eggs are by no means so 

 much smaller than those of the Indian Button Quail as might 

 have been expected. 



The eggs are moderately broad ovals, much pointed towards 

 one end, and very fairly glossy. They have a pale yellowish 

 stone-coloured ground, minutely freckled all over with specks 

 of yellowish and greyish brown, overlaid with somewhat 

 larger streaks, spots, and mottlings of dark earthy brown, 

 varying in shade in different eggs, and often much more dense 

 towards the large end, where, in some, they form a sort of mottled 

 irregular cap. Small spots or clouds of pale inky purple 

 are usually scattered amidst the other markings. 



The eggs that I have seen have only varied from 0^84 to 

 o*88 in length, and from 0*65 to 0*68 in breadth. 



I HAVE but few measurements of this species. The females 

 appear to be somewhat, but not very markedly, larger than the 

 males. 



