62 THE PAINTED SAND-GROUSE, 



Most of the numerous eggs that I have received have been 

 found in April and May, but the nearly-allied exustus breeds so 

 irregularly, and at such different periods, that it is, a priori, pro- 

 bable that the breeding season of the present species also, varies 

 much, and is not by any means confined to these two months. 

 Indeed, Mr. R. Thompson took a nest near Chanda on the 

 28th November, and again, Captain Butler, writing from Mount 

 Abu, remarks : " I shot a pair of Painted Sand-Grouse, with 

 three young ones not quite full grown, in the plains below, about 

 twenty miles from this, in February last, which shows that 

 P. fasciatus breeds in this neighbourhood in the cold weather, 

 as these young birds must have been hatched, I should say from 

 their appearance, during the previous month." 



They make no nest, but merely scrape a slight depression in 

 the soil (occasionally, it is said, thickly lined with grass), at 

 some spot more or less overhung or sheltered by a tuft of grass 

 or a low bush, and lay occasionally four, as a rule three, but 

 not uncommonly only two, eggs. 



Mr. R. M. Adam says :— 



" My first nest was found on the 3rd April. I have since 

 obtained fresh eggs in May. The nest, I was told, was simply 

 a hollow scraped in the ground, with a number of small pieces 

 of stone round the edge and some loose grass for a lining. 



" The number of eggs in each nest varied from two to three, 

 but in one nest four were found. When fresh, the eggs vary 

 from a deep to very pale salmon colour, but when blown, the 

 colour changes in a few days to a rich cream colour, and all are 

 pretty uniformly spotted and speckled with light lavender and 

 rusty." 



Writing from Chanda (Central Provinces), Mr. R. Thompson 

 says : " I send you two eggs of P ter odes fasciatus y which I took 

 on the 28th November in the Mohurli Forests. 



"The nest contained three eggs, of which one unfortunately 

 got broken. It was placed on the ground on a slight rise ; neatly 

 and well put together, saucer-like, made of dried grass, bits of 

 dried leaves of bamboo and other plants. The soil was sandy, 

 with a thin forest growing on it, and the nest was placed under 

 the shade of a small tree. There was no cover in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the nest ; in fact, for three or four yards all 

 round there was nothing but thin short grass. I accidentally 

 arrived at the spot, and whilst talking to a friend, the female 

 bird got up close at our feet, and I saw the nest immediately." 



Mr. E. C. Nunn sent me, from Hoshangabad, the first eggs 

 of this species that I ever saw. The eggs were of the usual 

 long cylindrical Sand-Grouse type, but the colouration resembles 

 that of several of our Indian Goat-Suckers, and but for the 

 careful extraction of the young chick, which accompanied the 

 eggs in spirit, I might have believed them to belong to some 

 large species of Goat-Sucker. 



