294 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVW. 



(810). Ptyonoprogne rupestris. — In a gully with steep cliffs on either side at 

 about 6,000 feet I saw a number of birds flying about the cliffs, which looked 

 to me like Crag Martins. I had not glasses with me and was unable to observe 

 them closely. Visiting the place about a fortnight later I must confess to not 

 having seen any birds there. 



(813). Hirundo rustica. — On two occasions I thought I saw the Common 

 Swallow flying about the hilltop. 



(822). Hirundo nepalensis. — Hodgson's Striated Swallow breeds in small 

 colonies about the bare hills below the forest. These swallows do not appear to 

 build their nests together like martins, but a pair will build here and another 

 there, sometimes widely apart where the rocks are unsuitable. The situation 

 of nests, or rather remains of nests I saw, all appeared stupidly selected, being 

 terribly exposed to wind and weather, and the nests had all collapsed. I 

 passed a pair building on 10th July on an old site on the face of a rock sloping 

 inwards on the side of the road, where any passer-by could knock the nest down. 

 It was built of mud pellets similar to the nests of martins, but larger. Possibly 

 these swallows also build in the verandahs of the hill-people's houses which 

 stud the hillside about here. I certainly often saw them flying about outside 

 these houses ; but in the verandah of one I examined I could find no nests. 

 I was chary of extending my investigations to other houses after recent ex- 

 periences in the Kurram Valley, where ornithological rambles led a friend and 

 me to be suspected by the Turi villagers of being Government agents sent to 

 poison their water-supply ! The note of this swallow as it flies round about 

 the nest is a plaintive " piu piu ". 



(832). Motacilla melanope. — I saw a young Grey Wagtail on the stream at 

 Kala Pani on 9th July. 



(844). Anthus similis. — The Brown Rock Pipit breeds on the bare hillside 

 below the forest. I saw a female carrying food to a nest on the hillside above 

 me on 10th July. While I was watching her, she was joined by two others 

 which hovered kestrel-like above the place where the nest was. 



(946). Gecinus squamatus. — The wild call of the Western Himalayan 

 Scaly-bellied Green Woodpecker, to give him his full title, was a common sound 

 in the woods, near the top of the ridge, in May. The nest is usually in a hole 

 in a cherry tree, the entrance of which often appears small for the size of the 

 bird. When the young are hatched, the parents are often to be seen perched 

 on a bare bough keeping up an incessant squawking chuckle, the meaning of 

 which is not easy to discover. The clamour of the nestlings may be likened to 

 the distant sound of a puffing engine. It seems absurd to see young birds, 

 after they are fully fledged and are quite as big as their parents, being fed. 



(950). Gecinus occipitalis. — When first I arrived up I was much puzzled to 

 discover the bird that made a loud repeated whistle note far down the hillside. 

 One day being down some 2,000 or 3,000 feet I heard the note close to me and 

 imitating it to the best of my ability, I had the satisfaction of seeing the author 

 of the sound fly into a tree above me where I could examine him leisurely 



