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



animal, which immediately sprang on him, knocking him down and 



seizing him by the shoulder. Seeing it was a panther, he lay quite 



still ; and the animal stood over him for a short time growling, then 



walked away ; as soon as it had got a safe distance off he got up and 



ran, the panther making no attempt to follow or to attack him again. He 



reached his village late that night and next morning the villagers visited 



the spot ; the bullock was dead and had not been touched by the panther 



during the night, the latter was nowhere to be seen, and the villagers were 



afraid to make any attempt to find and destroy the animal." 



The two wounds on the lad's shoulder were undoubtedly due to a bite ; they 



were deep gaping wounds, with a passage underneath connecting them, showing 



that tha teeth must have met. That on the forehead was a claw wound down 



to the bone, and those on body were very slight, also due to the claws of the 



animal. 



The lad was a sturdy healthy lad about ten years of age and in a month and 

 a half's time had quite recovered. 



Panthers are occasionally killed by tho Biluchis and their skins brought to 

 the coast ports for sale, but, as a rule, the Makran-Biluch will flee at the 

 sight of one of these animals. 



W. D. CUMMIXG. 

 Persian Gulf, 25th July 1903. 



No. IV— NOTES ON THE NIDIFICATION OF THE INDIAN 

 BLAUK-BREASTED RAIN-QUAIL (CORTURNJX 

 COR OM A ND ELICA ). 



On the 13th of July 1903 the monsoon broke in the " Hissar " District of the 

 Southern Punjab, and a short spell of rainy weather was enjoyed. When the 

 rain actually stopped, I at once noticed along the grassy banks of the canal and 

 also in my garden the well-known " chip" " chip " of the Rain-Quail who is only 

 a visitor to this part of the Southern Punjab at this time of the year. This 

 continued up to the 17th August, when the mali commenced to cut the long 

 grass on my front lawn. 



On returning to the bungalow later the same day I found the man had left 

 a circular tuft uncut, and on asking what this was for, he showed me a small 

 nest formed of mud with seven eggs of the Corturnix coromaiulelicu in it. 

 Blanford, Volume IV, page 117, " Birds of India," says : " They do net make a 

 nest but lay in a hollow on the ground." My little friend may have made the nest 

 by turning round in the soft earth of the lawn, but the nest had a slight lip and 

 was well formed. The next day I found the hen bird still sitting in spite of 

 the fact that the mowing machine was being run over the cut grass and all 

 round the isolated tuft. The mali then informed me that he wanted to flood 

 the lawn, which is sunk for that purpose below the surrounding ground level. 

 I suggested making a bund or dyke of mud round the tuft, and this was done 

 and answered well, leaving the plot of grass like one of Davwin's Atoll or coral 



