\ CSH. \(j m HESTERS' INDIA. 319 



to quote here; he i'ound it to be a permanent resident of, ami 

 breeding in, the bare stony hills of Raj pu, tana and Northern and 

 Western Punjab; also rarely in the hills dividing Sind from Khelat. 

 He describes tho eggs as being regular, moderately broad ovals, 

 slight lv compressed .towards one end, but somewhat obtuse at both. 

 The shells were very delicate and had a slight gloss. The ground 

 colour differed somewhat in all three of the first eggs he took, in 

 one it was pale greenish-, in another pale bluish-, and in the third 

 faintly brownish -white, xlll wei*e spotted, speckled, and minutely, 

 but not very densely, freckled with brown ; a sort of reddish-olive- 

 brown in two, rather more of umber in the third ; small clouds, 

 blotches, and streaks of the same colour and of a pale purple were 

 intermixed with the finer markings. In two of tho eggs the 

 markings were far more numerous towards the large end, where in 

 one thev are partially confluent ; on the third they are prettv evenly 



ft/ i. *. ** ■*• « ■ *■ 



distributed over the whole surface, being however rather denser in 

 a broad irregular zone round the middle of the egg, 



X''ar Neemuch, 15th October, Nesi only, IT, E x Barnes, 



724.— THE CEESTED BLACK BUXTIXG, 



Melophua mel'nncterus, Gm. 



The Crested Black Bunting is common on the Aravelli Range, 

 and also on the Khandesh Ghats. It occurs near Baroda, and is far 

 from uncommon close to Poona. 



In all these places it is probably a permanent resident, breeding 

 during the middle and latter part of the rains. 



Within the limits of the Presidency, I have only found the nest at 

 Aboo, but as I met with the bird during the rains, at the base of the 

 hills near Poona, I feel sure that it breeds there also. 



I know of no nest that is better concealed, and I have only been 

 able to find it, by carefully watching the birds during the breeding 

 season. I have often followed a bird, with a piece of grass in his 

 beak, to within a yard or two of the nest, and even then it was only 

 after a careful and painstaking search that I have discovered it. 



It is usually placed in a hole or recess in a bank, and is, I believe, 

 almost always well hidden by tufts of grass, clumps of ferns, or wild 

 balsams. The nests differ a good deal : one I i'ound, was a well- 



