968 
lobiplfyia malabarica. 
devoid of lining, and contained four eggs, which were on the point of hatching ; but the old bird was nowhere 
to be seen ; on my returning the following day to identify the eggs, I found a Yellow- wattled Lapwing at the 
nest, and three eggs hatched off, but the young nowhere to be found, though I searched diligently for them. 
1 he eggs were pyriform in shape, of a stone-yellow ground-colour, blotched evenly all over with three shades of 
sepia, the darkest and richest markings being the largest; under these were small greyish-blue blotches. The 
e SS which I took measured 1‘46 inch in length by 1'12 in breadth. The old birds, which were both present, 
were very noisy, flying round and round like the last species, but not approaching so near to me. Layard 
describes the eggs as “ rich nankeen, plentifully spotted with rather large blotches, some of which are dark 
brown, others grey, of a deeper or paler shade, and thickest at the obtuse end.” The measurements he gives 
are 1'58 inch in length by 1 '25 inch in breadth. 
In India the Yellow-wattled Lapwing breeds in April and May throughout the plains and dry uplands. 
According to Mr. Hume the nests are usually in waste lands, known in Upper India as “ Osur maidam” rarely 
in ploughed lands, never on sand banks or in the close vicinity of rivers or tanks. He observes, “on one or 
two occasions I have found the eggs overshadowed and more or less hidden by tufts of grass ; but usually the 
nest is out in the open, without any attempt at concealment. 
“ The nest is a small circular depression scooped out by the bird, and entirely unlined, some 3 to 4 inches 
in diameter and an inch in depth, and often with a little earth, or a number of tinv pieces of kunker, scraped 
up against the margin all around, so as to deepen the cup. The eggs are always four in number/’ They are 
described as “ buffy or pale greenish or olive stone-colour, pretty thickly studded with spots, streaks, and 
moderately-sized blotches of deep brown, interspersed with spots and streaks of pale olive-brown and dingy 
inky purple.” Average size of twenty -two eggs U45 by U07 inch nearly. 
GEALL M. 
Fam. (EDICNEMID/E *. 
Bill in one group stout and large, in the other smaller and somewhat slender. Wing long, 
with a blunt tubercle at the point. lail short, of 12 feathers. Legs long, the tarsus with 
similar scales before and behind ; hind toe wanting ; toes webbed at the base. Eye large. 
Sternum with a single deep emargination. Stomach membranous. With no change of 
plumage in the breeding-season. 
* The members of this family might perhaps, with greater propriety, be included among the Otidai as a subfamily ; 
but as the true Bustards are wanting in Ceylon, I prefer to keep the Thieknees and Coursers separate by themselves. 
