to the plains in late winter will encourage very early nesting. When 
this monsoon is weak many francolins will not nest until the onset of 
the southwestern monsoon in June. Baker (4), in referring to the 
Assam francolin, expressed the probable reason for this as follows: 
"Everywhere the time is governed by the abundance of foods, and this 
in turn depends on the rainfall and the time of year the natives burn 
off the grass." 
The nest is usually placed on the ground in a small depression 
lined with grass or other leaves, sometimes very casually constructed, 
but often neater and more substantial. Under a tuft of grass or ina 
small thick clump of weeds or low shrubs are common locations but some 
are also found in fields of sugarcane, mustard or indigo at some dis- 
tance from grassy or brushy patches. Israeli field biologists re- 
ported nests in alfalfa and clover fields. Where black francolin have 
been liberated in Louisiana, State biologists found several nests in 
grassy clumps between the rows in a large field of cotton. Others have 
been found in soybeans, along irrigation ditches, and one, in Hawaii, 
in alfalfa, 
Renesting, following the destruction of the first nest, has not 
actually been observed but almost certainly is the rule. Likewise it 
is probable, though not certain, that many birds will rear a second 
brood. 
Eggs 
Hume (26) and Baker (4) agree that nests average 6 to 8 eggs 
though Jerdon (29) reports 10 to 12 as did country folk in southern 
Turkey. Baker describes their color as varying from pale stone (rare) 
to deep olive or chocolate brown, the majority being pale olive brown 
to almost an olive green. In shape they are sphero-conoidal to oval 
with the larger end being almost flat on occasion. Hume (26) found the 
average measurement of 70 eggs to be 39.8 x 33.0 mm, The eggs of F. f. 
melanonotus are slightly smaller. 
The incubation period for black francolins is 18 to 19 days. In 
captivity in 1963, Florida biologists secured an average of 31 eggs 
per hen from breeders one to two generations removed from the wild. 
Brooding and Rearing 
Almost nothing is known of the behavior of the mother and chicks once 
they have left the nest. They are certainly extremely shy. It was very 
unusual for our trappers to find birds under six weeks of age in their 
nets but at least 300 youngsters from 2 to 5 months old were caught. 
Since young birds should normally be more numerous than adults in the 
coverts trapped, it would appear that youngsters are more apt to remain 
immobile when the rope is pulled through the vegetation above them or 
the beaters walk by. Hume (26) states that young birds soon learn to 
shift for themselves and are separated from their parents by November. 
32 
