58 



w hich consists of the darker and more shining green of the 

 upper surface, in April, and leave for their breeding grounds at 

 the end of May. The very short time they are absent is somewhat 

 remarkable, if, as must be the case, they breed to the northward 

 of India. In May they collect in flocks of a dozen or more 

 before taking their departure, and may be seen thus con- 

 gregated on the shores of the lake. I have never yet shot a 

 male bird in Ceylon. 



Gailinula Ph<enicura. (Pennant.) The White-breasted 

 Water-hen. 



The white-breasted Water-hen is much more given to perching 

 than the common Water hen of Europe, G. Chloropus. It may 

 often be seen on the top of a fence, pluming itself in the shade, 

 or drying its feathers after a shower of rain. Unlike its European 

 congener, which often builds among reeds, piling its nest up 

 from the bottom of the water, this bird chooses a tuft of grass 

 in the vicinity of water, on the top of which it builds a flat 

 nest (the same being often used more than once) or places it 

 among the leaves of the Screw Pine ( Pandanus) , sometimes 

 at a height of not less than ten feet from the ground. 



The eggs are nearly always four in number, those of the same 

 clutch* varying sometimes as much as a line in length or breadth. 



Average dimensions : axis 1 inch 7 lines, diam. 1 inch 2 lines. 

 Ground colour creamy- white or yellow grey, sparingly blotted, 

 and spotted all over, but mostly at the larger end, witli 

 light red and yellow brown, with a few bluish-gray blotches. 



The young are covered with black down, and are helpless for 

 several hours after birth. The immature bird wants the white 

 throat and breast, and has only a few traces of grey down the 

 centre of the foreneck. 



* Noticeable also in, the eggs of the English Water-h«u 



