180 NATURAL HISTORY. 



along ths ridge running eastward from the Ghats immediately north 

 of Nasik. Thrushes as a rule are very rare in Khandesh. I have 

 only seen one specimen of M. Iwrsfieldi and one of M. nigropilea, 

 while the former is fairly distributed, though rare, in the north of 

 Nasik, 40 miles south of this, and the latter simply swarms along the 

 Saptashring Range stretching from the Ghats eastward ; so much is 

 this the case that in a week the patel of one village sent me in 70 

 eggs of this bird collected in one small hill. 



I watched a pair of Jerdon's Green Bulbul (Ph. jerdoni) for a long 

 time, but they had evidently not commenced to build, and I shot the 

 cock. Last year I obtained nests with eggs in this same Ghat m 

 August. I also shot a pair of Indian Cuckoos (G. micropterus), or, 

 more strictly speaking, two specimens, for they were both cocks. 



Every day I heard a clear note I could not make out ; and finally 

 I followed it up and shot these two birds in the act of calling. It is 

 not very common, and this is the only place I have noticed it in 

 Khandesh. All the time I was at the Ghat I never saw or heard the 

 European Cuckoo (Cuculus canorns). This is a very similar bird, but 

 the much narrower bars on the breast make it very easily identified. 

 It passes through Dhulia in the early part of June, and in July is very 

 common throughout the Satpuras, a dozen often being heard at one 

 time. It returns again in September, and no doubt breeds abundantly 

 in the interval, ^s the Satpuras are barely 50 miles north of these 

 hills, it is strange none of the Cuckoos stop to breed herein the rains. 



Coming back I got a nest with three eggs of Levcocerca leucog aster t 

 This pretty little Fantail is very common on the Ghat ; but its nests are 

 difficult to find, and the bird was not rare enough to make me willing 

 to waste time over it. I only noticed one pair of the larger kind 

 (Leucocerca aureola\ and that w T as well down the Ghat. It however is 

 common on the plains above. I noticed one Honey Buzzard (P. pti- 

 lorhynchus) ; and the shrill cry of the Hawk-eagle (L. cirrhatus) was 

 constantly heard. This bird is common here and in the Satpuras ; but 

 in the adjoining parts of Nasik I have never noticed a single speci- 

 men, and it is far too noisy to he passed over. In the evening the 

 villagers brought me a number of Mynas' eggs. These must have been 

 from second nests, as there were lots of young flying about. All were 

 the common species (A. tristis). Indeed I have never seen a single spe- 

 cimen of the Blue-eyed Jungle-myna (A. fuscus) in Khandesh, though 

 it is common on the hills immediately south of that district. 



On the 15th I had determined to have a day in the jungles at 



