Perdicula argoondah (Sykes).  
The Rock Bush-Quail.

Perdicula asiatica (Lath.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 583.
Perdicula argoondah (Sykes), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 827.

The Rock Bush-Quad, the only species whose eggs I have myself taken, lays at any time from August to December and again in March, and for all I know may lay straight on all the year through ; but I have myself taken nests in ad the months mentioned. I think they have two broods in the year, but cannot be certain; anyhow March and September are the months in which I have found most eggs.

They always prefer semi-waste strips of land, covered with high grass and in the neighbourhood of cultivation, for nesting. The nest is slight, composed of grass loosely wound round into a circu­lar shape, and is placed generally but not always in a depression, scratched for it by the birds, at the foot of some tuft of grass or under some thick bush.

Six Or seven is the usual number of eggs laid. I have never seen, though I have heard of, more in a nest.

Writing from Jhansi, Mr. F. R. Blewitt says :- " The Bush-Quail, 1 do not know which, but I send you both birds and eggs " (and the birds were the Rock Bush-Quail), " breeds in August and September. The nest is merely an excavated cavity, from 5 to 6 inches broad, at the base of a thick patch of grass and quite under it. A few pieces of grass are laid at the bottom of the nest. The female sits very close on the eggs, and 1 have stood a yard from the nest without her attempting to rise ; only when I have brought my hand near to her has she flown off. The eggs are of a pale reddish white, and six appears to be the regular number of eggs, though probably it may be seven or eight. In average length they are 1.1, breadth .83.

Writing from Oomraotee in Berar, Mr. J. Aitken remarks ; -  " The Rock Bush-Quail is very abundant here; coveys may be started wherever there is the slightest cover. They breed during November and December. I have found the nest repeatedly ; it is composed of grass and placed under a bush. Sometimes it contains as many as seven eggs ; they are large for the size of the bird, and might pass for diminutive eggs of the Grey Partridge. Even at this breeding-season they seem to feed in company, and newly-hatched birds may frequently be seen running amongst half a dozen old ones. But the female continues to watch over her brood with the utmost solicitude, and I have had to swerve my horse to prevent his- setting his foot on one as she crouched anxiously over a chick."

Colonel Butler tells me that he found nests of this species near Deesa from the 17th August to the 27th November, and that five was the largest number of eggs he ever found in one nest.

Mr. O. J. W. Taylor took the eggs at Manzeerabad in Mysore on the 27th April.

Mr. Davidson writes that in both Sholapoor and the Panch Mahals, this Quail bred in the latter parts of the rains among longish grass, the general number of eggs, and the most he has taken, being six. And referring to Western Khandesh, he says that he has taken eggs in all months but May, June, July, and August.

Typically the eggs are moderately broad ovals, a good deal pointed towards the small end ; but more or less elongated varieties occur, and here and there pretty perfect ovals, or even eggs pointed at both ends, are met with. The eggs are white, glossy, and spotless, tinged, but far less deeply than in the Grey Partridge, with excessively pale cafe-au-lait colour.

In length they vary from 0.95 to 1.12, and in breadth from 0.78 to 0.91; but the average of forty-one eggs is 1.02 by 0.84.