THE LESSER FLORICAN OR LIKH. 39 



the least signs even of scratching), in some thin scanty grass, 

 about two feet high, and about two yards in from the edge of the 

 grass patch. Not a hundred yards from the plot of grass in 

 which the eggs were deposited was a preserve, over half a mile 

 long by a quarter broad, of very high dense grass, a far more likely 

 place, one would have thought, for so wary a bird to lay its eggs. 



i( On the 1 6th, I went out and watched this bird for more 

 than an hour, just about the time at which she had been flushed 

 on the morning before from the single egg. From the tree on 

 which I sat, with my binoculars, I saw her running rapidly out 

 of the dense preserve, across the open and into the scanty patch 

 in which was her egg. Here she moved about for some minutes 

 feeding, and every now and then she sprung into the air with 

 a low clucking cry, which was answered by the male bird from 

 the preserve, though at first I could not see him. Then, as 

 though a sudden thought had struck her, she darted to the nest, 

 and after one or two springs, and walking round and round the 

 e gg> sne squatted and deposited another. While she sat, she 

 was quite silent, but the male bird, who had now advanced closer 

 to me, kept springing in the air and crying continually. The 

 operation of laying the egg seemed to last about twenty 

 minutes, — i. e., from the time she sat to the time she rose — 

 and having made another spring or two and walked round the eggs 

 she then made straight tracks for the dense grass where the 

 male bird was calling. 



" I went out quite alone on this watching expedition, and all 

 was quite quiet, and the birds were at their ease ; but while I 

 was still in the tree, a man came into the preserve with some 

 cattle, and then I saw both birds spring several times silently, 

 and after that I saw or heard nothing of them." 



On the 1 8th another egg was laid, but on the 19th, finding 

 still only three, Wenden shot both parents and took the eggs. 

 Three or four is the usual complement, but Lieut. F. Alexander 

 says that they sometimes lay five, and Mr. James writes that 

 he " once shot a hen Florican and picked up from where she rose 

 five young ones just able to run, two of which were carried 

 home, one soon died, but the other was successfully brought 

 up on grasshoppers till it was fully fledged. It was very tame, 

 and ran about the poultry yard fearlessly. Unfortunately it was 

 accidentally killed just after attaining maturity." 



The eggs, like those of the Great Bustard (which, though 

 smaller, they greatly resemble), vary much in size, shape, and 

 colouration. 



Typically they are very broad ovals, with a feeble tendency 

 to a point at one end ; but some are nearly spherical, some are 

 purely oval, while one or two approach a Plover shape. 



The shell, everywhere closely pitted with minute pores, is 

 stout, but smooth, and has always a slight, and at times a bril- 

 liant, gloss. 



