SOME BIRDS OF LUDRIANA DISTRICT, PUNJAB. o9.5 



difficult situation of the nest which could only be approached 

 with a boat and much disturbance 1 had great difficulty in 

 identifying the owner of the nest, and it was only on oth 

 August that I managed to surprise her at home. She flew 

 ofl" across an open stretch of water with the blundering flight 

 of a Moorhen, and I shot her, to find that I had secured 

 Gallicrix cinerea ; by this date the 6 eggs of the clutch were 

 rather incubated. The nest was a thickish pad, flat and 

 rather insecure, of green reeds, with a slight canopy of reeds 

 bent ever it, placed about 15 ins. above the surface of the 

 ' water in a thick tuft of coarse grass and reeds, growing at 

 the end of a submerged 'bund.' The nest was w'ell concealed 

 and I had to part the foliage to get my hand in ; the bird 

 must have entered by climbing the stems around. A curious 

 looking bird flushed in a neighbouring patch of reeds on the 

 24th and 28th of July was doubtless the male of the nest. 

 I can find no previous record of the species for the Punjab. 

 1414. The Great Indian Bustard — EiqMdotis edwardsi (Gray.). 



In the Bengal ' Sporting Magazine ' for 1857 there is said to be 

 an account of the riding down of one of these Bustards by a 

 party of officers near Ludhiana, but I have not had an oppor- 

 tunity of verifying the reference. The species is not likelj' 

 to be found in the district now, 

 1419. The Great Stone Plover — Esacus recurvirostris (Cuv.). 

 1422. The Indian Courser — Cursorius coromandelicus (Gm.). 



Two Coursers seen from the train near Ludhiana (on the 

 Jagraon line) on 6th July appeared to be of this species. 

 1425. The Large Indian Pratincole — Glareola orientalis, Leach. 



In Stray Feathers, Vol. II, p. 465, I find this note and repro- 

 duce it here for facility of reference : — 

 " Sir, 



I see in your contributions to the Ornithology of India, Stray 

 Feathers, Vol. II, p. 285, you say that you have never heard of 

 the occurrence of Glareola orientalis or large Swallow- Plover in 

 the Punjab, so I trouble you with these few lines to say that I 

 shot a specimen on the 19th November 1871 on a bank in a pool 

 about a mile from Ludhiana, Punjab. It was a young bird, 

 I suppose, having lighter colored tips to some of the Feathers on 

 the back of neck and back. Its length was 9 inches, tail 3 

 inches, legs dark brownish purple. I regret I did not stufl' it, 

 but made a drawing of it. I have since lost the drawing, but I 

 feel certain it was the bird described by Dr. Jerdon. It is the 

 only one 1 have ever seen up here."- — F. Field. 

 1427. The Little Indian Pratincole — Glareola lactea (Cmm.). 



This Pratincole breeds on the Sutlej River between Phillaur 

 and Ludhiana in large colonies in April and May, and 1 found 

 many eggs when stationed at Phillaur in 1910. It is probably 

 a summer visitor only. 



This year in July I saw many flights of Pratincoles both at 

 Ladhowal and in the neighbourhood of the Budhan Nala ; they 

 were occasionally met with on the Budhan Nala both in Sep- 

 tember and as late as 4th October. 

 1429. The Pheasant-tailed Jacana — Hydrophasianus cJiirurgus (Scop.). 



This handsome bird was observed in small numbers about the 

 pools at Ladhowal in July, August and September, and they were 

 evidently there for the purpose of breeding as I found a nect 



