The eggs are four in number, of a dark olive colour, blotched and spotted with rich brown.
The origin of the blotched as a special type is wholly unknown.
A genus much represented is Culcasia, and swampy localities are thickly set with the giant Cyrtosperma arum, with flower spathes that are blotched with deep purple.
The nest, contrary to the habits of most Limicolae, is generally placed under a ledge of rock which shelters the bird from observation,' and therein are laid four eggs, of a light olive-green, closely blotched with brown, and hardly to be mistaken for those of any other bird.
A very ancient British breed is the black Pembroke; and when this breed tends to albinism, the ears and muzzle, and more rarely the fetlocks, remain completely black, or very dark grey, although the colour elsewhere is whitish, more or less flecked and blotched with pale grey.