^nSCELLANEOUS NOTES. 667 



No. XI.— INDIAN GREY SHRIKE {LANIUS LATHORA) 

 ATTACKING WOUNDED SANDGROUSE. 



This morning I shot a Sandgrouse which fell 120 yards away. When I 

 got close to it I saw an Indian Grey Shrike attacking it. The Sandgrouse 

 gave one flutter which frightened off the Shrike and then lay dead. The 

 Shrike returned and began pecking at it. I watched it for a few minutes 

 and then went up expecting to find it had attacked the eyes, but it had 

 drilled a hole in the Sandgrouse's skull. I have never seen this before 

 and it may be of sufficient interest to record. 



It was rather cheek of a small bird like a Shrike to go for a Sandgrouse. 



E. O'BRIEN, Lt.-Col. 



PORBANDAR, KaTHIAWAR, 



1st November 1918. 



No. XII.— OCCURRENCE OF INDIAN RED BREASTED 

 FLYCATCHER (SlfHIA HYPERYTHRA) IN THE DECCAN. 



In the Fauna it is stated that this bird has not yet been procured in 

 India, when on migration between Kashmir, its summer quarters and 

 Ceylon, its winter quarters, nor have I been able to trace in the journal any 

 account of its occurrence outside the Himalayas. 



It may, therefore, prove of interest to know that I procured a male of 

 this species in good plumage at Bolarum (Secunderabad, Deccan) on the 

 28th of September last, and saw another on the 30th, two days later. 



No more were seen, and the two individuals mentioned were evidently 

 on migration. I am inclined to believe that its occurrence on this occasion 

 was not fortuitous and that this species migrates annually down the con- 

 tinent of India, but has probably been overlooked owing to its similarity to 

 S. parva, its European ally. I may mention that though in the Fauna it is 

 stated that S. parva occurs in India down to a point considerably South of 

 the Deccan, i have never observed it in the Deccan, and think it has 

 probably been confounded with 8. hyperythra, from which it may be distin- 

 guished at large by the ring of white feather round the ej^e, which is a 

 conspicuous marking wanting in the latter, and by the lesser amount of 

 chestnut on the underparts. Another rare Flycatcher shot on migration at 

 Bolarum on 2nd October 1917, was Layard's Flycatcher {Alseonax muttii). 



A. J. CURRIE. 



Bunder Abbas, 2Stli November 1918. 



[There are three skins of Sepliia parva in the Society's Collection, two from the 

 Satara district and one from Kolaba District below Ghats — Eds.]. 



No. XIII.— NESTING HABITS OF THE BROWN ROCKCHAT 

 {CERCOMELA FUSCA). 



A few years ago I spent the hot weather touring in the Banda district 

 of Bundelkhand living in Canal inspection houses. Every inspection house 

 had its pair of Brown Rockchats, which nested inside the house, usually in 

 the bathroom, to which they had access through the drain opening when 

 the house was shut up. I found several of the nests, which were placed 

 either in the corner of one of the shelves in the wall or else on the cornice, 

 and I was surprised to find that they were invariably built on a foundation 

 of small pebbles or gravel. The foundation consisted of an irregular heap 



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