238 THE GREY JUNGLE-FOWL. 



gathering a few dry leaves and sticks about her. The number 

 of eggs found in a nest is from seven to thirteen. They are of a 

 dirty white or buff colour. The hen, when leaving the nest to 

 seek food, generally covers the eggs with dry leaves, no doubt 

 hoping by so doing to screen them from harm. These nests are 

 found during March and April. I have on two or three occa- 

 sions set Jungle-Fowls' eggs under domestic hens, and reared the 

 young. It was amusing to see how soon they showed signs of 

 their wild nature. When about a fortnight or three weeks' old, 

 their wing feathers were so long as to enable them to fly up 

 into trees at any moment, while their foster-mother stood below 

 wondering at an accomplishment she never witnessed in her own 

 progeny. At night they much preferred roosting on some tree 

 in the garden, and when a few months old they invariably went 

 off to the woods." 



On the other hand, Mr. Davison, referring more particularly 

 to his experience at Neddivattam on the other side of Ootaca- 

 mund, says : " The Grey Jungle-Fowl breeds in October, 

 November, and December. There never is any nest to speak 

 of, the eggs being merely laid on some dry leaves, under clumps 

 of trees, or a bush far in the jungle. The number of eggs in a 

 nest apparently varies from six to ten." 



Dr. Jerdon again tells us : " The hen lays from February to 

 May, generally laying from seven to ten eggs of a pinky cream 

 colour, under a bamboo clump." 



Lastly, Mr. Wait, writing from Coonoor, informs me that 

 " the Grey Jungle-Fowl also breeds here. The egg is oval, of 

 a deep buff colour, and measures 175 by i'i25. 



"They lay in May and June." 



According to this, these irregular-minded birds lay in different 

 parts of the Nilgiris from October to June, — a fact which 

 requires further verification. It must, however, be borne in mind 

 that different portions of the Nflgiris are more and less re- 

 spectively under the influence of the north-east and south-west 

 monsoons, and that this may materially affect the breeding season 

 of this species, as it does of the Herons and other water birds. 



Mr. Davidson, C.S., says : " I found it breeding in Satara, in 

 March and April, but in Mysore in July." 



Mr. Mclnroy writes : " I have seen chicks of about a week old, 

 both in April and November, within a few miles of Hunsur, 

 (S. W. Mysore.)" 



Writing from Abu Dr. King noted that " the eggs were 

 found here from the middle of April to the end of May. The 

 nest was described by the Bhils and Shikaris (for I never 

 went down to take one myself) as similar to that of the Spur 

 Fowl (G. spadiceus), but larger, and like it placed in clumps of 

 bamboo or other thick undergrowth." 



The eggs vary much in size, shape, and tint, but there are two 

 extreme forms between which all others are intermediate links— 



