132 THE MOONAL. 



in, and, with some feathers from the bird, form a sort of lining. 

 Nothing is brought in to make a nest either by the Moonal or, 

 I think, any others of our hill game birds. I have generally 

 found five eggs in a nest, sometimes only two or three, but never 

 more than five. In a small work which I lately read, Five 

 Weeks in the Himalayas, by Captain Matthias, the author 

 mentions finding a Moonal's nest with nine eggs, but I fancy 

 he must have mistaken the nest of a Koklass for that of a 

 Moonal. The eggs are about 275 long and 175 wide, buffish 

 white, powdered with chocolate and in some with spots and 

 blotches of the same colour. If the eggs are hatched under a 

 domestic fowl, the chicks take readily to the foster mother, but 

 often seem at a loss how to get on with her. The young broods 

 in the forest are generally found with the hen bird only. Indeed , 

 I doubt if the Moonal pairs at all. Where they are rare, they 

 may do so ; but where numerous, I think not. For a couple of 

 months the chicks are alike in colour, and then the males begin 

 to change slightly. At four months they are easily distinguish- 

 able, though they get none of the bright feathers till the second 

 moult." 



Writing from Dharmsala, Captain Cock said : " The Moonal 

 breeds in May and June, and lays from five to eight eggs in a 

 hollow on the ground, either under some rock or fallen tree, or a 

 thick rhododendron bush. The eggs vary in colour, but not in 

 shape, — some being spotted with broad spots, and others speck- 

 led 'with fine specks. The eggs are very like those of the 

 Turkey. The nidification of this bird depends much on the 

 year. In mild winters, when the snow is off the ground, they 

 begin earlier. No nest to speak of is made, but a few feathers 

 are sometimes found about the eggs." 



Captain Hutton writes : " These birds do not occur so low 

 down as Mussooree, but are found in abundance on the next 

 range. In days of yore they were found at Simla, but civili- 

 zation has of late years banished them to less disturbed localities. 

 It makes no nest, but lays its eggs on the ground ; the number 

 not satisfactorily ascertained, as one nest contained three, and 

 another four, eggs of a pale brown or sandy hue, thickly 

 sprinkled over with reddish brown spots and dashes." 



The eggs in shape and size closely approximate to those of 

 our domestic Indian Turkey, but are, as a whole, slightly larger, 

 and, considering how much heavier the Turkey is, this difference 

 in the egg is remarkable. The shell is fine and compact, show- 

 ing none of the pores so conspicuous on Pea-Fowl's eggs ; but 

 they have only a faint gloss, and contrast in this respect strongly 

 with the eggs that our domesticated Turkeys here commonly 

 lay. The shape is a long oval, a good deal compressed towards 

 the small end. The ground colour is a pale cafe au lait or bufTy 

 white, and they are thickly and coarsely freckled all over, but 

 most thickly over the central portion of the egg, with deep 



