MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 707 



Natural History Society's Journal, Vol. VIII., No. 4. Since then 1 have more 

 than once made inquiries to find out if the larger flamingoes continued to breed 

 on the Rann of Cutch. It appears that they breed fairly regularly on the 

 Rann, except in seasons of a scanty rainfall, when there is very little or no 

 water lying on that tract, as has been the case during the recent years of scar- 

 city and famine, or when the rains do not arrive until very late in the year. 

 Their nests, which are built of earth while the earth is wet, are not made on 

 any particular island; but the birds seem to select ground slightly higher than 

 the surrounding country and covered with shallow water on all sides to a con- 

 siderable distance from the spot selected, evidently so as to be free from danger 

 from jackals, wolves, &c. It would be worth knowing if the flamingoes in 

 seasons which they find unfavourable for nesting on the Rann seek other safer 

 breeding grounds and, if so, whether they breed then on the Mekran Coast or 

 elsewhere, or whether in such years they do not nest at all. A few of the birds 

 are always to be seen in these parts. This year a large number of eggs and 

 three young birds not fully fledged have been brought to me. I have also had 

 photographs taken of the nests, which I send as they may prove of interest* 

 The place on the Rann where the nests were found is about eight miles to the 

 north-east of the Pachham,and here the nests were to be seen in hundreds. 



The photograph was taken on the 6th November 1903, but the birds breed 

 earlier than that. The eggs found on the nests were all bad ones. 



RAO KHENGARJI. 



Bhuj Cutch, January 1904. 



In the Fauna of British India, Birds, Vol. IV., page 409, Mr. Blanford ex- 

 presses some doubt as to whether the common flamingo does breed in the 

 Rann of Cutch, so that the above note by His Highness the Rao of Cutch, 

 together with the photograph supplied by him (which is here reproduced), 

 supplies us with conclusive evidence on this disputed point, and is of the greatest 

 value. 



EDITORS. 



No. IV— TIGER verms BEAR. 

 Last hot weather I visited some haunts of the gaur in the hopes of adding 

 another to the list of those slain. On the way to the camping ground I was 

 tramping along a jungle path on the edge of a water course, and arrested my 

 steps on seeing some tiger droppings. It is my invariable rule on such occa- 

 sions to make an examination in the event of anything of interest being 

 discovered. In this particular instance my curiosity was fully rewarded. 

 Two bears' claws and the remains of the beast's pads, entirely indigested, were 

 extracted. One of these claws I send for identification. My opinion is that 

 it belonged to a member of the species Ursus malayanus. Several days later, 

 quite by accident, I hit upon the scene of the fray. My attention was first 

 attracted by the appearance of the claw marks of a bear deeply indented in 

 the soft bark of a tree overhanging a pool of water. There were unmistakeable 

 signs of a severe scuffle in close proximity. Black hair tending to white at the 



