550 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULiTURIST. [Feb. I, 1902. 
Westwards of India, this bird extends as far as 
Persia, 
Dr. Jerdon lias tlie following note on tlie habits 
of the Grey Partridge :— 
" It frequents alike bush-jungle and cultivated 
lands, being often found in gardens and compounds, 
and very generally near villages, concealing itself 
in hedgerows ana thickets. It associates in coveys 
of varied numbers, from five to iifleen, is often 
very difficult to flush, running for a great distance 
and with amazing speed, and taking«efuge iu thick 
bushes and hedges, whence it is driven with 
difficulty. When flushed it rises with a loudl whirr, 
liies very strongly, but does not take long flights. 
It frequently perches on low trees and shrubs and 
on the branches of thick Euphorbia hedges. Its 
call is a peculiar loud shrill cry, and has, not 
inaptly, been compared to the word Pateela- 
pateela-pateela quickly repeated, but preceded 
by a single note uttered two or three times, each 
time with a higher intonation, till it gets, as it 
were, the keynote of its call." 
The Grey Partridge appears to nest twice in the 
year, once from February to June, and again from 
September to November. The eggs are usually 
laid in a shallow depression, well concealed under 
a bush, or in a large tuft of high grass, and more 
or less neatly and thickly lined with grass. The 
ecorg vary in number from six to nine, and are 
spotless, pale buff. They are oval, a good deal 
pointed towards one end, and glossy. They vary 
in length from 1-2 to 1'42 in length and from '95 to 
1-12 in breadth. 
lu this bird the forehead is chestnut and th 
crown umber-brown with darker shaft-streaks. A 
band over the eye and the cheeks is pale rufous. 
The chin and throat are buff surrounded by an 
interrupted black band or series of spots. The 
sides of the neck are delicately barred with black 
and white. The whole upper plumage, the visible 
parts of the closed wings, the tail-coverts and the 
middle tail-feathers are umber-brown, dashed with 
chestnut, especially on the back and wings, and 
everywhere barred with pale buff. The first ten 
quills of the wins; are brown with a little grey 
mottling towards the base of the outer webs. The 
tail-feathers, except the middle pair are chestnut 
becoming black towards the extremity and lipped 
with buff. The whole lower plumage from the 
throat downwards is pale buff shaded with rufous 
closely and delicately but irregularly barred with 
black. 
The male is larajer than the female. Length of 
the former about 13 ; wing nearly 6 ; tail about 3i ; 
length of the latter nearly 12 ; wing about 5^ ; 
tail about 3J ; legs bright red ; irides dark brown ; 
bill blackish. Weight up to 12 oz. 
Mr. Maddox was on his way to Europe ; 
and left on the 31st January by the 
P & O SB. " Rome," so that he had time 
to make enquiries as to the best mode of 
procuring and forwarding to New Zealand, 
some pairs of our grey partridge, as an 
experiment. We should be glad to hear from 
any one able to aid iu this interesting attempt 
at acclimatising. 
,,SIR ANDREW CLARKE ON TRINCO- 
MALEE AND COALING PORTS. 
I may introduce here what I wrote in 1883 
about providing adequate defence for Trincomalee. 
" Having already stated the extreme importance 
that 1 attach to the retention of Trincomalee as a 
station for refitting and coaling H.M.'s ships, and 
as a base and rendezvous for our fleet, it appears 
desirable that I should very briefly indicate the 
nature of the defences which in my opinion are 
necessary to deny the harbour to an eneniy's 
warships and to secure the naval establishment 
and anchorage from anything but distant bom- 
bardment. The entrance to this magnificent har- 
bour is so narrow, the naval establislmient so well 
protected by the natural features of the country, and 
so useful a nucleus of works of defence is already 
provided, that, fortunately, a comparatively small 
expenditure only is requisite to attain the above- 
mentioned objects. . , . , Under all the 
circumstances of the case it would^ I think, be a 
sufficient measure of defence if the emplacements 
which were hastily and temporarily constructed 
in 1878 9 were carefully revised and adapted for 
the reception of 9 inch or 10 inch M.Ij. guns. The 
cost of these measures would be about £25,000, for 
the works and £20,000 for the armament." 
Naval authorities had not then grasped the im- 
portance of coaling stations. On their safety the 
power of the Navy depends, and to protect ihem 
is a cheap mode of adding to the naval streng h of 
the Empire. Their provision in sufficient num- 
bers and at well-chosen spots on the f^reat ocean 
routes to India, Australia, and China is the firsi 
essential need for the maintenance of our naval 
position in the East. There is no necessity to 
establish too many coaling stations ; indeed to do 
so would be to introduce an element of weakness 
into our position by offering the enemy more 
objective points of attack than it would suit our 
arrangements to adequately defend. I would 
specify the following as meeting all possible re- 
quirements of the present and the immediate 
future : — Aden, Bombay, Trincomalee.False Point, 
Port Blair, Singapore, Thursday Island, Hong- 
Kong, and Port Hamilton. 
A second line of coaling stations between the 
Cape and India on the one side and Australia on 
the other will ultimately become necessary, bub 
probably the Seychelles in one direction and the 
Cocos in the other will suffice for all our require- 
ments, especially after South Africa has been pro- 
Tided with several harbours of refuge. 
Of these, Aden, Bombay, Trincomalee, Singa- 
pore, and Hong Kong are either completely or 
nearly equipped to meet all requirements aa 
coaling stations and naval harbours. False Point 
for the Hooghli could easily be converted into a 
harbour of refuge by clearing out the river mud 
from the Mahanadi. A coal depot at Port Blair in 
the Andamans would be very useful, as supple- 
menting Trincomalee, and as providing a set-off 
against any possible Dutch-German development 
in Achin. Thursday Island in Torres Straits has - 
been looked after by Australia, and will become 
more and more the first care of her naval direc- 
tors. Port Hamilton, once ours, and which gave 
England practically the command of the seas of 
China and Japan, has now unfortunately been lost 
to us. [But should be occupied immediately Russia 
takes any portion of Corea.] 
Where the coaling station is used exclusively 
for providing coal and supplies to our ships, there 
the charge and responsibility should be entirely 
Imperial. But when the coaling station is attached 
to a colony that would itself be the immediate 
object and- reward for temporary, if not permanent, 
occupation by an enemy, theie the charge and res- 
ponsibility should largely, if not wholly, devolve 
on the colony itself. The case of Trincomalee 
