306 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



Ratnagiri District during the breeding season, but I fancy they do 

 not go very far away. All the birds of this family, as well as the 

 Snake-birds and Herons, have a habit of breeding in immense colonies, 

 and the birds from many miles around congregate together at some 

 favoured spot, as the breeding' season approaches, and one may 

 at that season travel many miles without seeing one of them, and 

 would therefore be under the impression that they had left the 

 country. 



They seem as a rule to prefer Babool, or other thorny trees grow- 

 ing in the middle of some swamp or pond. Both nests and eggs are 

 miniatures of the two preceding. 



The eggs, four or five in number, measure about 1*75 inches in 

 length by 1*16 in breadth. 



Eastern Narra, Sind, June to December. S. Doig. 



Milana near Deem, November. H. E. Barnes. 



] 008.— THE INDIAN SNAKE BIRD. 

 THE DARTER. 



Plotus mclanogaster, Venn. 



The Indian Snake Bird occurs generally throughout Western India, 

 breeding during the monsoons. Mr. Doig found them breeding in a 

 huge colony in the Eastern Narra, Sind. I found them breeding in 

 some numbers on one of the lakes at Milana, about 18 miles from 

 Deesa, and got a good lot of eggs, which, however, were much 

 incubated. The villagers assured me that they bred annually on 

 these very trees, but I did not see any very large nests, like those 

 Mr. Doig observed, belonging to the Large Cormorant. I took a fully 

 formed egg from the ovaries of a bird I shot at Deesa, but I could 

 find no nests, neither would the people near give me any information 



They place their nests on trees, Babool preferred, generally grow- 

 ing well out in the water. The eggs, three or four in number, 

 closely resemble those of the Cormorants. 



They average 2*12 inches in length by l - 37 in breadth. 



Eastern Narra, Sind, June to December. S. Doig, Esq. 



Milana, near Deesa, September. H. E. Barnes. 



