" In every case where I had an opportunity of watching the
nests the eggs were laid daily.
" The birds sit very close when hatching. I have watched
several, and on two occasions attempted to cover the sitting bird
with my hat. I have never seen a male bird on the nest or
near the hen, but from the persistent way in which the males
call and the females answer I concluded that the male never
went far away from the nest. I consider that the breeding-time
may be fixed as beginning on the 1ST of August and ending on
the 15TH of October.
" Many of this year's birds were on the wing by the 20TH of
September—at any rate that is the first day upon which I noticed
any.
" I noticed many nests in which the eggs of Quail had been
destroyed by snakes, lizards, or field mice, most probably the
latter I think.
" I never myself found a nest containing more than nine
eggs.
" Four is the smallest number of incubated eggs observed."
Mr. Davidson remarks :—" The Rain Quail breeds in great
numbers round Sholapur, and any number of eggs could be
easily obtained there.
" I obtained various nests ; amongst others—.
One brought to me on the 9TH August, contained five eggs.
One brought to me on the 12TH August, contained four.
One taken by myself on the 13TH August, contained six.
One brought in to me on the 18TH August, contained eight.
One taken by myself on the 18TH August, contained eleven.
(All the eggs of all these nests were fresh.)
" In the case of the last, I shot the cock bird within ten yards
of the nest, but he did not rise directly off the eggs, as I was
stooping to pick them up when he rose ; the hen did not rise,
though, on beating about with only two men, several birds of
the same species were flushed within two hundred yards. The
eggs in this last nest belong to such very different types that I
am almost sure they must have been laid by different hens.
And I can only account for it on the supposition that in a place
like this, where great numbers are breeding close together, two
hens may (as I have often known Partridges and Pheasants to
,do) lay in the same nest. In this case there were nine of the
darker type and two of the lighter in the nest.
" This is further rendered more likely by the fact that the
native fowlers I was employing informed me of a nest containing
seventeen eggs. I rode out next morning, not being able
to get out so far (five miles) at once, and was much disgusted
to find all the eggs, eighteen in number, broken ; they belonged
in about equal proportions to the two darkest types of eggs. It
is possible that the fowlers, who are frightful liars, might have
put them there ; but I do not think so, as I promised them a rupee
a nest with the bird sitting on it. As the nest was distinctly a
Quail's, I think their putting additional eggs in out of some
other Quail's nest very unlikely, as by that they simply got the
reward for one nest, instead of two.
"One thing about these Quails I noticed was the enormous
number of nests that are destroyed. I hardly ever walked out
without discovering broken eggs lying about; but what animal
was the culprit I never could be sure, though I suspect the
Common Crow Pheasant and a large lizard are generally the
offenders.
" The nests were of the most rudimentary description, a slight
hollow with a few blades of grass or Jowari laid in it formed the
whole concern, and in some cases even this was wanting, and the
eggs were laid in a hollow in the bare ground.
" The first eggs I obtained were two nests on the 9TH August
containing five and eight fresh eggs respectively.
" The last, also containing five fresh eggs, was obtained on
the 2ND October, but this was probably owing to a former nest
being destroyed."
" Since the above was written I have found them breeding in
the Dcccan from the first week of August until late in November,
according as the monsoons were late or early, full or scant.
In the Panch Mahals they bred early in August in 1 8 7 8 , and I
saw young birds about in the beginning of September."
Captain Butler again says :—" I found nests of the Rain Quail
at Decsa on the following dates, 1876:—•
AUGUST 5TH A NEST CONTAINING 6 FRESH EGGS.
IT „ 7 » »
11 N 9 11 »
•• » 6 „ „
11 N 9 11 11
•I » 5 » H
II M " L> »
11 11 7 I» 11
6th
10th
13th
17th
17th
18th
19th
" In addition to these nests, I saw several others in September.
All of the above were in grass preserves, and consisted of a
slight depression in the ground scratched by the birds themselves,
with, in some instances, a scanty lining of short pieces of
dry grass."
The eggs of this species are excessively variable both in colour
and size, but I observe that all the eggs of one clutch are, in the
vast majority of cases, not only similar in shape and type of
colouration, but also very uniform in size. So much so is this the
case that I mixed up eight clutches (every egg dated), and then
without once referring to the dates picked out each clutch merely
by the look of the eggs without a single mistake. No doubt in
some few clutches one, two, or more eggs of a different type to
that of the rest, do occur. These, I believe, must have been laid
by other birds and not by the hen to which the nest belonged.