74 THE COMMON SAND-GROUSE, 



1869. 1870. 



September 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 10th. 



October . 3rd, 22nd. 



November 24th. 



December 7th, 20th. 



In some cases three nests were found in a single day. 

 During these two years he sent me so many eggs that I begged 

 him to collect no more, and so after 1870 these eggs are never 

 mentioned. 



To quote an abstract I made of his register for 1869 : " In no 

 case did he find more than three eggs in one nest. In one 

 instance he obtained five eggs in one spot — three in one place 

 and two about 3 inches distant — but he ascertained that these 

 belonged to two different pairs. Fully half of these eggs were 

 found in fallow fields ; the rest in bare waste-land or desert-like 

 sand. In only two cases were the eggs found in any way 

 sheltered or hidden in the roots or tufts of grass. In every case 

 the eggs were laid in a slight depression on the bare ground. 

 No nest of any kind was met with. " 



This has also been my own experience, except that I have 

 not at all unfrequently found the eggs more or less sheltered by 

 low bushes, tufts of grass, or large clods. 



Mr. William Blewitt says : " On the 9th March in a field 

 in the Hissar District, I found a nest of this species con- 

 taining five (!) almost fully incubated eggs. They were, as 

 usual, placed on the bare ground in a shallow basin scratched 

 out by the birds, some 5 inches in diameter and 2 inches in 

 depth. They all belonged, I believe, to one pair, but in no 

 other instance did I ever meet with more than three eggs in 

 any nest." 



I may note here that the Khan Sahib reported that, although 

 he had never been able to meet with such a nest, the villagers, 

 in localities where the birds were very common, said that they 

 occasionally saw four eggs in one nest-hole. 



From the Sambhar Lake, Mr, R. M. Adam writes : " The 

 Common Sand-Grouse is found here throughout the year in 

 great numbers. It breeds here, and I have taken the nests in 

 April and May. 



" I have seen a nest here at the root of a tuft of sarpat grass, 

 the leaves of which protected the bird from the sun's rays. The 

 nest had a lining of loose pieces of grass, and contained three 

 eggs." 



This is another instance of the variable habits of this species, 

 I must have taken at least thirty nests, the Khan Sahib fully 

 double that number, and neither of us ever saw any sort of lining 

 to the nest-hole, and yet not only Mr. Adam, but other good ob- 

 servers, have vouched for finding more or less of a grass lining 

 on many occasions. 



Captain Cock tells me that " the Common Sand-Grouse lays 

 its eggs in a hollow amid loose stones (I speak of the ervirons of 



