H8 JOURNAL, BuMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



;. THE CHESTNUT BITTERN 



Ardetta dinnamomea, Gni. 



The Chestnut Bittern is oommon at Belgaum, where k breeds 

 during the rains. 



Mr. Doig found it to be not uncommon in the Eastern Nana 

 district, where also it breeds. It is probably very rare, even if it 

 occurs at all in most other parts of Western India. 



Mr. Doig, referring to a nest he found in the Eastern Narra, 

 writes : — 



" Found a nest of this species on the 3rd August in a thick clump 

 of reeds in the middle of a swamp : it contained four fresh eggs. The 

 nest was a platform of coarse grass and reeds. The eggs were nearly 

 perfect ovals of a chalky-white colour." (Stray Feathers, Vol. IX., 

 p. 282.) 



!KU. THE YELLOW BITTERN. 

 Ardetta sinensis, Gmel. 



The Yellow Bittern is not very common in Sind ; it occurs also in 

 Guzerat, but is rare in the Deccan. 



Colonel Butler found it breeding at Milana, near Deesa. He 

 writes : — 



"On the 21st August, 1876, at Milana, I found a nest of the 

 Yellow Bittern. It was built of sedges and rushes near the outside 

 of an immense bed of tall bullru^hes, in one of which it was placed 

 about ten feet from the level of the water. It was a small nest and 

 not unlike that of a small rail, and contained three eggs, but un- 

 fortunately so near hatching that I only managed to extract the 

 contents of one of them. The eggs are long and cylindrical, in fact 

 much in shape like Nightjars' eggs, about 1^ inches in length ; 

 white, faintly tinted with skim-milk blue. 



"On the 24th instant I found another nest exactly similar in every 

 respect, but built in a clump of bullrushes growing quite on the 

 outside of the bed. The bird rose off the nest within a yard of me, 

 but there were no eggs, and when I returned a few days later the 

 nest was deserted." (Stray Feathers, Vol. V., p. 2.16.) 



Sind, Eastern Narra, May to August. S. B. Doig. 



Deesa, Mi tana. August. Colonel Butler. 



