THE SEESËE.
Captain Cock writes :—
" I have taken several nests of this bird near Nowshera,
in the low adjacent hills, dry, parched, and barren places,
which only a strong love of ornithology would ever tempt
a man to enter during the month of May, when the heat
is nearly unbearable. The nest is placed under a ledge
of rock or between some stones. I once found one under a
cairn of stones that had been erected by the herd boys. They
lay from eight to twelve eggs, stone cream colour, pointed at both
ends, in shape and size resembling the eggs of Podiceps
philippinensis. The nest scarcely deserves the name ; a few dry
bents, one or two feathers, and a hole in the ground, is all the
nest they prepare for the reception of their eggs."
Mr. C. Browne again remarks:—
" Here, in the Salt Range, the Scesees begin laying about the
first week in April; a full nest cannot be found before the end
of April. In exceptional cases, a single bird may begin laying
in the last week of March; by the end of May almost every
clutch has hatched off.
"The number of eggs in each nest varies from 10 to 14 ;
the natives assert that 20 eggs are sometimes found in a nest,
but I believe that this is a mistake. Possibly at times two hens
may lay in the same nest.
" The eggs, I find, vary much in shape ; some are long and
decidedly pointed at one end ; others are comparatively short
and do not go off into nearly so much of a point.
" The nest is generally placed amongst stones, on bare
ground, on the hill side ; a mere hollow, thinly lined with grass,
often overhung and shaded by some bush or rock ; at times,
especially when in more inaccessible places, entirely open
to view, with no shelter whatsoever anywhere near it."
The eggs of this species are quite of the Bush Quail type,
and though slightly larger, are very close to those of Microperdix
crythrorliynclia. In shape they are more or less lengthened ovals,
more or less compressed or pointed towards one end ; some are
slightly pyriform, and others, though these are the exceptions,
more of the true Partridge shape. The texture of the shell is
comparatively fine and close, but it is everywhere pitted with
minute pores, which, however, are much less visible in some
specimens than in others. Some of the eggs have a faii-t gloss;
in others this is scarcely traceable. In colour they vary a good
deal: some are almost pure white, but the majority have a
very perceptible creamy or very pale cafi' au lait tinge.
In length they vary from 1*3 to 1*51, and in breadth from C 98
to I T ; but the average of thirty-three is 142 nearly by T02
nearly.
THE SEESEE. 49
I HAVE MEASURED a great number of these in the flesh ; the
following are the dimensions :—
Males.—Length, 9-5 to iuo ; expanse, i6'0 to 1675 ; wing, 4-9
to 575 ; the third, or occasionally the third and fourth, primaries
are the longest; tail from vent, 2'o to 2'5 ; tarsus, I T to 12 ; bill
from gape, 0'6y to 0 7 7 ; weight, 7 to 8 ozs.
Females.—Length, 90 to 975 ; expanse, i;-0 to l6'25 ; wing,
4'9 to 5 T ; tail, 2'0 to 2'5 ; tarsus, I T to V2 ; bill from gape, 0'62
to 071 ; weight, 575 to 8 ozs.
Legs and feet pale dingy wax yellow, in some greenish, in
some dusky yellow ; claws pale brown ; the irides vary a good
deal : they are generally either bright yellow, orange, or orange
brown ; but in some specimens they were dull red, and in some a
bright brown ; the bill is generally orange, somewhat dusky on
the culmen ; in some, however, it is a brownish orange red, and
in the females, especially, often brown above and orange below,
or even yellowish brown or ripe olive ; the cere is generally a
hoary orange red, sometimes only brown.
T H E PLATE is most unsatisfactory. In the male the legs are
utterly wrongly coloured, and the colours of the plumage are
entirely misrepresented. The head is not a clear greyish blue,
but a dull grey; there is not really a vestige of lake about the
throat; the breast is a delicate vinous fawn, not brick red ; the
white spotting on the sides of the neck is much better defined than
is here indicated. The female ought to be very much browner,
and is altogether so bad that it is useless saying more about it.
ONLY ONE OTHER species of this genus is known, A. heyi (not
hayi, as Heuglin gives it), from Western Arabia (extending
just into Palestine near the Dead Sea), from both coasts of the
Red Sea, and generally Egypt and Nubia, in suitable localities,
as far South as the 18° or 19° of N. Lat.