The discovery of the egg of jerdon's courser rhinoptilus bitorquatus (Blyth 1848)

The Jerdon's Courser Rhinoptilus bitorquatus (Blyth 1848) was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 1986. The species is poorly known despite a number of studies and, until now, its egg has not been seen by any ornithologist. We report here the discovery of a Jerdon's Courser egg at Aberdeen University in Scotland, the identification of which was confirmed by DNA analysis. The egg was collected by Ernest Gilbert Meaton, a veterinary surgeon at the Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka (India), probably in 1917, most likely within 100 km of the Gold Fields. Meaton's collection was purchased by George Falconer Rose, given to Aberdeen Grammar School in 1919, and transferred to Aberdeen University in the 1970s. It is hoped the discovery will assist in the conservation of this Critically Endangered species.