THE BLACK-BREASTED KALIJ. 199 



hatch readily under domestic hens, the chicks somehow cannot 

 be reared, and adults confined, as I have seen many in Sylhet 

 remain to the last as wild as when captured, destroying their 

 plumage, and ultimately, generally, wearing themselves out in 

 their persistent and unintelligent efforts to escape. 



" The Khasias, who call them ' Motooral snare numbers with 

 horse-hair nooses. 



" On no occasion have I seen more than four birds together ; 

 but they are generally seen in pairs." 



Later, writing from Khowang in Dibrugarh, he says : — 



" Here the Do-reek, as the Assamese call it, is very common 

 and far more accessible than in Sylhet. Morning and evening 

 the birds are to be seen feeding on all the roads and paths, and 

 allowing a near approach if the sportsman stoops low and 

 advances sharply. 



" Their food consists, I find, of berries, grain extracted from 

 the droppings of horses, all kinds of tender shoots and worms." 



This SPECIES lays mostly in April and May, but nests may be 

 found towards the close of March and well into June. 



My friend Mr. Cripps found a nest on the 29th March 1875 

 in Sylhet, and caught the female sitting on it. " The nest," 

 he says, " was composed of a heap of dried leaves, a foot in 

 diameter and about six inches in height ; the egg cavity was 

 5 by 4 ; no lining ; the eggs were four in number and perfectly 

 fresh ; the site chosen was at the foot of a large tree standing 

 on a piece of flat land between two hillocks." 



Again, writing from Khowang, he remarks : — 



" On the 22nd March 1879, while cutting forest for charcoal 

 burning, I came across two fresh eggs. The nest was made of 

 dry leaves, which the bird had scraped into a hollow in the ground 

 at the root of a tree, and within six feet of a jungle path, along 

 which my coolies had been passing for days. On that day the 

 men were felling trees all round, and the hen bird did not fly 

 off until the axe was laid on to the tree at the root of which 

 her nest was. There was no lining. The ground around was 

 low and damp." 



The only eggs that I have seen of this species were those 

 sent me from these nests by Mr. Cripps ; they are of the usual 

 Kalij type, very regular, rather broad ovals (in fact of the 

 usual hen's egg shape), with rather strong and coarse shells, 

 very conspicuously pitted all over with minute pores and with 

 a faint gloss. In colour they vary from pale buff to a warm rich 

 cafe an lait. 



In length these few eggs vary from rS to vg ; and in breadth 

 from 1 -45 to 1*5 ; but, doubtless, a good series would show 

 much greater variations. 



