196 NATURAL HISTORY, 



Dungarpur, Meywar, 7th May 1886 ; and Mr. Doig shot a specimen 

 at Harsole, near Ahmedabad, in 1884. The young one at Sarau 

 seemed about four months' old. 



74. Scops pemiatus (Hodgs.) — " Sind, cold-weather visitant, rare," 

 is all Major Butler records ; and Mr. Barnes says it " occurs spar- 

 ingly throughout the district, except perhaps Gujerat." I therefore 

 record that on the 8th February 1886 I shot one, in the rufous 

 phase of plumage, at Pavagarh, on the hill-side above Champanir, 

 and my shikarry said he saw another which was white (*'.£., the adult 

 phase). 



15ter. Scops bakkamuna (Forst.) — Mr. Doig got a family of six of 

 these at Saran, and I kept one of the young ones alive for several days ; 

 they are only recorded from Sind and Abu, and with nocturnal species 

 every occurrence is worth record. The nest-hole was in a high Moivra 

 tree, and was inhabited also by a colony of tree-ants, who made it 

 uncommonly hot for the man who got down the Owlets for us ; in fact 

 he twice "resigned," but the sight of a depreciated " dib" encouraged 

 him to persevere and succeed at last. 



77. Glaucidium radiatum (Tickell). — Butler only records this from 

 the jungles at the foot of Mount Abu ; but we found it common in 

 the mahals from Dohad northward to Saran (Meywar) ; and A. bramct 

 correspondingly scarce, and only near the villages. 



98. Cypselus melba (Lin.). — I only mention to protest against 

 Major Butler's remark "only occurs, as a rule, in Gujerat, within reach 

 of the hills." As the Gujerat Alpine Swifts are within reach of the Hima- 

 layas if they choose to go there to roost and return in the morning, 

 this seems an unnecessary limit to place on the range of birds with 

 such wonderful powers of flight ! I have frequently seen them over- 

 head near Baroda, and have shot them on the 21st September. 



104. Dendrochelidon coronata (Tick.). — This lovely bird is not 

 in Butler's list; but it is quite common in the hill jungles of the Panch 

 Mahals, especially near the tanks in those jungles. I found a nest with 

 egg on a thin bough of a leaf less tree, 20 feet above the path in 

 the midst of jungle, near Saran. The nest was hardly 1| inch in 

 diameter, including the bough to which it was glued ; and both nest 

 and egg are safe and sound in my collection — a feat which Mr. Hume 

 (Nests and Eggs) never managed to accomplish, and he says "it 

 is almost impossible to get the egg (for they lay only one) down 

 unbroken. 



118. Merops jphilippinus (Lin.). — Major Butler only records from 



