712 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



to fit the bird; I was afraid I should not obtain any eggs as some of the birds 

 were building. However, on sending up a man I got several clutches of abso- 

 lutely fresh eggs, 27th January 1904. Four appears the complement, though 

 one nest contained five eggs. It seems odd why these ungainly birds should nest 

 on the very tops of lofty trees. They do not look in the least at home, and 

 appear to take all their time in trying to keep their balance, in doing which 

 they give one the idea of being on a tight rope. It puzzles me why they should 

 select this ourious spot to breed in. The country round is dry and unattrac- 

 tive. True, there is a small tank close by, which always contains water and a 

 nullah, choked with reeds, running handy. Probably these contain a good 

 class of frog or other food palatable to the bird, which binds them here. The 

 local people say they never migrate, but remain all the year round. 



The Bkahminy Kite (Haliastur indus). — Within a stone's throw of the 

 Painted Stork's colony I found a nest of this bird on the same date, containing one 

 fresh egg. Although fairly common, I have not found many of their nests. 

 They seem to retire to quiet and secluded retreats to bring up their young. 



R. M. BETHAM, Majoe. 



Poona, ith March, 1904. 



No. VIII— THE HIMALAYAN NUTCRACKER (NUCIFRAGA 

 HEMISPILA) AND OTHER WALNUT-EATING BIRDS. 



I am sending for the Society's Museum two skins of the Himalayan Nut- 

 cracker, which I have collected and prepared, as these specimens are in much 

 better plumage than the first I sent some time ago. I have also been able this 

 time to secure both the male and female birds. 



In my first account of the Himalayan Nutcracker, I mentioned that I had 

 found it on the Mountains of Kullu at an altitude of from eight to nine thousand 

 feet. Jerdon states that he had observed it at ten thousand. This year I have 

 noticed the bird as low as five and six thousand. In fact, it follows the region of 

 the Piuus excelsa, the seeds of which furnish it, to a great extent, with food. 



I am glad of an opportunity of again bringing the Himalayan Nutcracker to 

 the notice of the Ornithological Branch of your Committee, as in my first notice 

 of it I stated that, during a certain portion of the year, its food consisted of 

 wild walnuts, and I forwarded, with the specimen then sent, a string of walnuts, 

 both shells of which had been perforated by the bird in a very regular manner. 

 I felt certain of the fact I thus notified, because I made particular inquiries from 

 no less than seven different hillmen who lived on the mountain on which I shot 

 the bird, and they all told me that during the fruit season the Nutcracker lived 

 principally on wild walnuts, in confirmation of which statement they brought 

 me the doubly perforated shells, of which there was a quantity lying about undo* 

 every walnut tree in the vicinity of my mountain camp. Upon my suggesting 

 that the nuts had been opened in this way by a rat, the men ridiculed the idcii , 

 and declared that the bird, and nothing but the bird, with which they were 

 quite familiar, had perforated the walnuts, 



