194 THE BLACK-BACKED KALIJ.
T H E BREEDING season lasts for several months.
Quite low down, at elevations of two thousands feet or so, they
lay as early as the end of March; at four or five thousand
feet eggs may be looked for about the middle of May, and
towards the higher limits, 6,000 to 7,000 feet, they lay in June,
and eggs, much incubated it is true, have been found as late
as the end of July.
They seem never to make a nest; at any rate, of the dozen
odd clutches reported to me, none were found in any constructed
n e s t ; three were found in little clumps of grass at the feet of
tea-bushes, and the rest amidst dead leaves and moss, a little
scratched away, under the cover of bushes or tufts of ferns cr
at the base of overhanging rocks.
On some tea-gardens, the eggs arc unfortunately constantly
found by the coolies and destroyed ; the whole Tarai, and the
whole of the exterior hills, are becoming a sea of tea ; the
Black-backed Kalij is not nearly so common in the interior
as in the outer hills ; and I expect that, within a few years, this
species will become comparatively rare.
Ten seems to be the full number of eggs ; at least this is the
largest clutch reported to mc.
The eggs are, of course, of the regular game fowl type, varying
very much in size and shape (some being much broader, others
more oval) as also in tint, some being more gamcy than others.
Colonel Tickcll, however, could never have seen the eggs laid by
wild birds, when he described them as white. This they never
are, but they ring the changes from pale pinky creamy, and
pale café mi lait, to a rich café with little milk in it.
A nest obtained near Darjccling in July contained six eggs
of the usual Kalij type, that is to say, broad regular ovals, but
little compressed towards the small end, of a decided café au
lait tinge ; the shell strong and hard ; the surface everywhere
covered with minute pits, but withal fairly glossy.
Of two nests obtained at the close of March by Mr. Gammie
at elevations of 2,000 and 3,000 feet, in the neighbourhood
of Darjeeling, the eggs of the one were a rich pinky café an lait
(one of them showing a good deal of pure white mottling),
and of the other a rather warm huffy stone colour.
The eggs seem to vary from 179 to fully 2 inches in length,
and from 14 to 1-54 in breadth ; but the average of a large
scries is r g i by 147.
I HAVE measured but few of these birds, and my figures
therefore will probably need additions.
Males.—Length, 2ro to 25X); expanse, 26'5 to 29'0; wing,
S'9 to 9-5 ; tail from vent, 9-5 to 12-3 ; tarsus, 3-05 to 3-2 ; bill
from gape, i-28 to 136. Weight, 2 lbs. 6 ozs. to 2 lbs 12 ozs.
THE BLACK-BACKED KALIJ. 19s
Females.—Length, i8'0 to 2ro ; expanse, 25-0 to 27-0 ; wing,
S T to 88 ; tail from vent, 7-5 to 8-6; tarsus, 27 to 29; bill
from gape, I T 5 to 1-25. Weight, 1 lb. 14 ozs. to 2 lbs. 4 ozs.
The bill is yellowish or greenish horny, pale yellowish at tip,
dark at base ; legs and feet pale horny brown ; claws and spurs
often with a more fleshy tinge ; irides bright orange brown
to dark brown ; orbital skin bright red.
THE PLATE.—AS usual the colours of the bill, legs, and feet are
not quite correct; and the plate fails to convey an adequate
idea of the lustrous blue black of the male's upper plumage.