NESTING IN WESTERS INDIA. 



li is not unusual to find nests composed more or less of wires 

 taken from soda-water bottles; Mr. Blyth speaks of finding several, 

 two exclusively so, and there is a nest made of the same materials 

 in the collection of the Bombay Natural History, vide Journal, Vol. 

 1.. No. IV., p. 231. 



Mr. Vidal in his "Batnagiri Birds,'" gives the breeding season as 

 April and May, and again in November and December, and expresses 

 his conviction that they breed twice a year. This seems to be an 

 interesting departure from the usual order, and I have not noticed 

 anything like it in any other portion of Western India, but Mr. 

 Davidson got numbers of nests in Kanara, along the coast, in 

 October, but he did not notice any there in the early part of the 

 rains. 



664.— THE COMMON INDIAN MAGPIE. 



Dendrocitta rufa, Scop. 



The Indian Magpie, or more correctly the Indian Tree Pie, 

 occurs more or less commonly throughout Western India. It is much 

 more abundant in well-wooded tracts than in others. It is a perma- 

 nent resident, breeding from the middle of March quite up to the 

 end of July, but May and June are the months in- which most 

 nests are to be found. I think at this time of the year, they to 

 some extent leave the plains and retire to the adjacent woods and 

 nullahs, as many more nests are found in the latter situations, and 

 the birds themselves seem to become more abundant, but as Mr. 

 Littledale observes, " they are shy and wary birds when breeding, 

 and the nests in the thick mango foliage are hard to find," they 

 may in consequence often be overlooked. The nest is usually placed 

 in a stout fork, near the top of a tree, not necessarily a high one. 

 Mr. Davidson says that almost all he has seen have been on small 

 trees. It is composed of twigs, those at the bottom being as a rule 

 very thorny, and forming a sort of foundation, upon which the 

 nest proper is placed, as a rule it is well lined with finer twigs and 

 grass roots. 



The eggs, four in number, occasionally five, vary most astonish- 

 ingly, in both the ground colour, and in the character of the 

 markings. Typically they are longish ovals, a good deal pointed 



