Ortygomis gularis (Temm.).  
The Swamp-Partridge.

Ortvgomis gularis (Temm.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 572; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 823.

I have Only once shot, and have never seen a nest of, the Kyah or Swamp-Partridge, and only one of my correspondents has ever sent me its eggs or any notes in regard to its nidification.

Dr. Jerdon remarks ; - " The Kyah breeds early in the spring in some localities, at all events from March to May, and at this time is very difficult to put up. The eggs are said to be laid under some thick bush in a dry spot, and to be white, like those of the Grey Partridge."

Sir. H. J. Rainey took a nest near Khoolna in Jessore. He writes; -

"April 13, 1875. - The accompanying nest and five eggs were discovered by one of my tenants, who said the Kyah, the Bengali name for the bird, was sitting, and flew away on his coming up to it. I had desired him to look out for these eggs, and, agreeably to previous instructions, he marked the spot and informed me of it. I proceeded there a short time afterwards, and when a little way from the place I heard the loud cackling of, evidently, the female bird, as if it had been disturbed, and on approaching closer to it, it rose and flew off in another direction; but having unfortunately neglected to provide myself with a fowling-piece, I could not secure it, though I saw it quite distinctly, and have not the slightest doubt it was the Swamp-Partridge. Besides, there is no Other kind of Partridge; in fact no other species of gallinaceous bird build hereabouts within a circuit of five-and-twenty miles, as my experience of the locality enables me to confidently assert.

" The nest and its contents I found on the ground in a field of Rhar and Rashiya, i.e. thatching or serrated grass and spontaneous sugar-grass (Andropogon serratus and Saccharum spontaneum respectively), close to the margin of a dry tank covered with dense jungle, and about half a mile from the nearest human habitation.

"The nest is evidently constructed of the thatching-grass here specified. The eggs, five in number, were all fresh, warm, and apparently recently laid.

" The nest is rather neatly formed and circular in shape, about 7 inches in diameter, 1 1/2 inch thick on the sides of, and half an inch below, the central depression, where the eggs were deposited, and which is, say, 4 inches in diameter and a couple of inches deep."

The eggs are broad ovals, slightly pointed towards one end, and one or two of them slightly compressed there. The shell is stout, full of pores, but withal glossy. In colour the eggs are a pale cafe-au-lait, and all exhibit somewhat more or less distinctly a pale purplish or purplish-brown speckling or stippling about the larger end ; one or two of them also show signs of similar markings in other portions of the egg.

These five eggs vary from 1.44 to 1.5 in length, and from 1.16 to 1.23 in breadth.