258 THE PAINTED SPUR-FOWL. 



from such a nest, made at the base of a large boulder in dense 

 jungle, the egg-shells were taken from which the chicks had 

 just escaped ; again, in the same month, under the ledge of a 

 rock in thick underwood in a slight hollow in the earth, two 

 fresh eggs were found. 



" Apparently five is the maximum number of the eggs : at 

 least, during two seasons, of the many broods met with, no 

 single brood of chicks exceeded this number. 



" The parent birds assiduously care for their young, and 

 when disturbed exhibit great anxiety for their safety. When 

 closely pursued, the old birds endeavour by many artifices to 

 draw the attention of the intruders from the spot where the 

 chicks lie concealed, and invariably on the cry of a chick 

 wounded or captured, the parent birds daringly return to the 

 rescue, often to within a dozen yards or so of the sportsman." 



Mr. R. Thompson also sent me eggs of this species taken in 

 the Ahiri forests, south-east of Chanda, and remarked : — 



"The nest of the Spur-Fowl was 1 found on 5th April, when 

 there were only two eggs in it. The eggs were placed on the 

 bare ground, in a depression overhung by the trunk of a fallen 

 tree, and well concealed by tufts of grass and fallen leaves. On 

 the 9th April, when again visited, another egg was found added, 

 and as I had to leave that part of the Ahiri forests on the 

 following day, I had the eggs brought away." 



Again Colonel Tickell says : — 



" In June 1850, there was brought to me by a bird-catcher a 

 hen with four eggs, sitting on which she had been limed. They 

 were laid on the bare ground in a crevice, partly concealed and 

 sheltered by a bank and the roots of an overhanging bush. 

 There was bush jungle about the place, and it was at a consi- 

 derable distance from any rock or hill. The eggs were of a 

 whitish buff colour, in shape rather rounded, and in size 1*5 

 by 1 12 in." 



All the eggs that I have as yet seen have been rather regular 

 ovals, somewhat more elongated than the typical fowl's egg, and 

 rather more compressed towards the small end. 



The shell strong, but with a soft satiny feel, and a more or 

 less decided gloss. They are an uniform delicate cafe au lait> 

 and though taken from three different nests in widely distant 

 parts of the country, exhibit wonderfully little variation in 

 either size, colour or shape. They vary from 1*55 to 165 in 

 length, and from 1*07 to 1*15 in breadth, but the average of seven 

 eggs is 1*62 by I'll. 



The following are a few dimensions that I have recorded of 

 this species : — 



Males. — Length, 1 2*5 to 13*6; expanse, 17*5 to 18*5 ; wing, 

 5*85 to 6-2 ; tail from vent, 4-3 to 5*0; tarsus, 1*5 to 1*65 ; bill 

 from gape, 08 to 0*9. Weight, 9 to 10 ozs. 



