740 
GALLUS LAFATETTII. 
young chicks in July, and in the neighbourhood of Kadugannawa in December, whilst at Horton Plains young 
have been seen in April ; and, finally, in the Kukul Korale I have taken its eggs in August. Prom this it 
will appear that it breeds throughout the year. The nest is almost always placed on the ground near a tree, 
under a bush, and beneath the shelter of a fallen log ; a hollow is scratched and a few dry leaves placed in 
it fox’ the eggs to repose upon. I once found a nest in damp soil between the large projecting flange-like 
roots of the Doon-tree, containing two eggs partly incubated. I have generally found that the eggs do 
not exceed two in number, but sometimes three and occasionally four are laid. The general colour is 
creamy, but some eggs are whiter than others ; white specks sometimes prevail all over the shell in the same 
manner as in the ordinary hen’s eggs. Sometimes they are closely stippled with brownish specks or minute 
points of reddish grey, which occasionally tend slightly to form an indistinct zone at one end, either the 
smaller or larger. They vary from 175 to 2'0 inches in length by from L24 to 1‘49 inch in breadth. 
In 1873 Mr. Parker found a nest on the top of a young tree about 30 feet high. He writes me that it 
had the appearance of a Crow’s or a Hawk’s nest, of which the Jungle-hen had taken possession. She flew 
off, and three eggs were found to be in the nest. After incubation the young would have been doubtless 
carried down by the mother to the ground, just as young ducklings are conveyed from a tree-nest to water. 
The young” chicks, when slightly larger than a Quail, fly well and very strongly; they show their Galline 
nature in displaying a strong affection for the parent. I once shot a hen which was accompanied by a brood 
of half-grown chicks, and as I approached they ran to and fro by the dead biid until I was close to them, 
when they flew off. 
The figures in the Plate represent a cock from the Trincomalie district, a female from the Horton Plains, 
and a chick shot oix the summit of Allegala Peak. 
Genus GALLOPERDIX. 
Bill straighter than in Gallus, the culmen less curved and flattened at the base ; nostrils 
lateral and elongated, placed in a capacious membrane ; the margin of the mandible widened 
beneath the nostril and suddenly compressed towards the tip. Wings pointed, the primaries 
acuminate; the 6th quill the longest, and the 1st and 2nd much curved. Tail short, divaricate, 
and of 14 feathers. Tarsus moderately long and stout, covered in front with pentagonal scales, 
and armed with long spurs, the number on one leg sometimes exceeding that on the other. 
Middle toe exceeding considerably the lateral ones, which are subequal. 
Head and throat feathered, but the orbits nude. Tail held erect. 
