Ammoperdix bonhami (G. R. Gray).  
The Seesee Partndge.

Ammoperdix bonhami (G. R. Gr.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 567; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 821.

The Seesee breeds alike in the Salt Range and throughout the rocky hills that westwards bound our Empire, from Attock to the Gulf of Oman.

This pretty little species is very common and tame in the Salt Range; a couple of dozens may be seen in a morning's walk, and if people are set to catch them large numbers are brought in. They are most generally seen running on the bare rocks or pecking about the droppings of cattle on the mountain-paths ; but at Tobur, - some 2000 feet high, the rainy-season residence of the miners, who during the rest of the year reside in the Khewra Gorge (some 700 feet above the sea) and work the neighbouring Mayo Salt-mines, - I saw several pairs running about on the flat roofs of the empty houses. The males may often be seen perched on some rocky point; and the female in the spring, though less commonly seen in exposed positions, will always be found close to her mate. They run very rapidly and glidingly over the reddest ground, rise pretty readily and fly smartly, always if possible down-hill. Both in gait and flight they remind one much of the Chukor.

Towards the end of March and early in April they may be seen love-making, and towards the latter portion of April they begin to lay, hatching off as a rule some time in May, though I have found fresh eggs on the 1st June.

The nest is at best very slight, a little dry grass curled into a whisp, and generally seems to be only represented by a few blades of grass laid in a depression scraped by the birds. It is placed at times under some thick stunted bush or overhanging rock ; more often in the midst of loose stones; occasionally in one of the scanty tufts of grass that here and there dot these bare hills. They breed at all elevations, from the level of the plains to at least 4000 feet. Eight is the largest number of eggs that I have seen in any nest, but many more are said to be at times found.

Mr. W. Theobald makes the following note on the nidification of this species in the neighbourhood of Pind Dadan Khan and Katas in the Salt Range :-

" Lay in April, May, and June. Eggs, twelve. Shape varies from pyriform to ovato-pyriform. Size, 1 . 4 by 1. Colour, clear cream-colour. The eggs are laid in a slight hollow among stones in the hills."

The late Major Cock wrote; - " 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. 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."

Writing from Afghanistan, Lieut. H, E. Barnes says :- " The Seesee is not uncommon, but is not so often met with as the Chukor. It breeds at the same time and in precisely the same localities."

The eggs of this species are quite of the Bush-Quail type, and though slightly larger are very close to those of Microperdix erythrorhynchus. In shape they are more or less lengthened ovals, a good deal compressed 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 faint 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 cafe-au-lait tinge.

In length' they vary from 1.3 to 1.5, and in breadth from 1 to 1.1; but the average of twenty is 1.4 by 1.03.