1 84 THE WHITE-CRESTED KALIJ. 



Pheasant's. The eggs are always glossy, sometimes highly so, 

 and the surface is generally very finely and closely pitted with 

 minute pores like those of the Pea- Fowl's egg on a diminutive 

 scale. In some specimens these are pretty conspicuous, but in 

 the majority they are only noticeable on close inspection, and 

 in some they appear almost entirely wanting. The eggs vary 

 in colour from a very pale creamy or buffy white to a rich reddish 

 buff, even richer and redder than any specimens of the Pea- 

 Fowl's eggs that I have yet seen ; though such may doubtless 

 occur, I have not yet seen a specimen freckled or mottled as 

 Pea-Fowl's eggs occasionally are, though I have seen some 

 pretty thickly speckled with minute white spots. 



In length the eggs vary from 1*85 to 2*03, and in breadth from 

 1*25 to 1*52 ; but the average of fifty eggs is 1*94 by 1*44. 



The following are the dimensions, &c, of the White-Crested 

 Kalij :— 



Males. — Length, 24*0 to 290; expanse, 2875 to 32*0; wing, 

 87 to iO"0 ; tail from vent, I0'2 to I3'0; tarsus, 2*9 to 3*1 ; bill 

 from gape, 1*3 to 1*55. Weight, 2lbs. to 2 lbs. 6 ozs. 



Females. — Length, 20'0 to 23*0 ; expanse, 24*5 to 27*2 ; wing, 

 8*0 to 8*3 ; tail from vent, 7*8 to 9*0 ; tarsus, 2*6 to 2*8 ; bill from 

 gape, i*2 to 1*3, Weight, 1 lb. 4 ozs. to 2 lbs. 4 ozs. 



The irides are orange brown ; the bare eye-patch bright scarlet 

 to deep crimson, dotted over with numerous tiny tufts of abor- 

 tive black feathers ; the bill greenish white, dusky at tip ; the 

 legs and feet livid white, with a purplish or brownish tinge, 

 varying to pale grey brown, often with an olive tinge. 



The Plate gives a tolerable idea of the bird, though neither 

 bills nor legs and feet are quite correctly coloured, while the male 

 seems to have lost his own tail and borrowed one from a neigh- 

 bour when he sat for his portrait. 



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