MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 985 



No. XII —SHRIKES' LARDERS. 



On page 539 of Volume XIX of the Society's Journal, the writer, who 

 reviews " Birds of the Plains," charges me with casting doubt on '* Ihe well 

 recognised habit of the shukes of stoiing their captures impaled on the thorns 

 of bushes." He says that it is a pity I ridicule " such previously undisputed 

 evidence," Finally he says " It is quite probable that some of the smaller 

 shrikes have not the habit of impaling their victims in this manner, but the 

 remarks (in * Birds of the Plains ' ), ai e generalised for the whole family." Was 

 ever a writer more misrepresented than I have been? What I did, and do, 

 say, is that I have never set eyes upon such a la' der, nor have I seen a shrike 

 impale a victim. On the strength of this I added " I. therefore, think I am 

 justifiid in suggesting that th3 hibit of keeping a larder is probably restricted 

 to the larger species of shrike." I further stated that I would esteem it a 

 great favour if any one, who has seen a larder, would favour me with an account 

 of it. Yet again, I said " Let me not be mistaken. I do not say that butcher 

 birds never keep larders, for they undoubtedly do ; of this I am sati^fied." 



But let this misrepresentation pass. The important point is the larder. 

 The reviewer above referred to says that he has come acioss one. I fim sure 

 that most of the readers of this Journal would like to have an account of it, 

 to be told in what part of the world it was found, to what species of shrike it 

 belonged . what was the uatuie of the meat stored therein, whether, as the 

 store of meat began to run low, it was replenished. I have never read an 

 account of such larders in India, so that I hope that these members of the 

 Society who have seen them will come forward. Owing to the ubiquity of 

 crows and ants in this country, I should imagine that the butcher biid, that 

 attempted to set up " shop, " would find its hands pretty full in keeping its 

 stock intact. I should be very glad to hear how the shiikes in question over- 

 came the difficulty. 



D. DEWAR. 

 Allah.xbad, &th December 1909. 



No. XIII.— COMMON MYNA {A. TRiSTIS) FEEDING YOUNG OF 



PIED MYNA {S. CON'J/.A) AND NESTING HABITS OF 



THE COMMON PARIAH KITK (J/. GOV J A DA) 



AND BRAH.VIJNY KITE (//. J A DCS). 



The other day I saw a common brown myna feeding the young of the pied 



kind, A fiiend of mine also sent me the following interesting note some time 



back. Have you ever noticed that the ordinary kite — the brown one — picks np 



sticks from the ground to make a nest, whereas the Hrahminy kite pulls thtm 



off the growing tree, so the slicks he uses are much smaller than those used by 



the other ? 



CHAS. M. INGLIS. 

 ' Baghonie Factory, 



Laheria Sebai, p. O., bth November 1909. 



