176 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVI. 



and who was doing very well. He told me the number of hives kept by his 

 brother, and the quantities of honey and wax exported by him, and they 

 appeared to be enormous, so he must have been working on a very large 

 scale. I gathered that the Australian Government gave some sort of bounty 

 on the amount exported. 



I have an idea that an attempt was made some time ago to introduce A. 

 mellifica into the Nilgiris, but I do not know with what success. 1 see no 

 reason why bee-keeping should not succeed in India, and I should think that 

 there are possibilities in front of it. The greater part of the wax exported 

 from India is at present obtained from wild bees. 



C. G. NURSE, Major, 

 Bombay, October 1901. 113th Infantry. 



Bombay, 2Uh October 1904. 



No. XXIV.— ASSAM BIRDS. 

 I should be glad to know if Gecinus striolatus, the Lesser Indian Green Wood- 

 pecker, is at all a common bird in Assam. It seems to be here as my collector 

 has already brought in two males, this, after my having shown him specimens 

 of the bird from S. India, he declares it is very common, he also tells me, on 

 having seen specimens of Megalcena marshallorum The Great Indian Barbet 

 and Cyarops franklini , that both birds are procurable here in February, but I 

 very much doubt this. I may mention that both the Black Partridge and the 

 Bengal Floriken are common birds here. I am told that a former manager used 

 not unfrequently to shoot as many as four and six of the latter in a morning 

 and this without much trouble. 



A. M. PRIMROSE. 

 Mornai Tea Estate, Tamarhat P. 0., 

 Gauripor, Assam, 

 October 1904. 



No. XXV.— BREEDING SEASONS OF BIG GAME. 

 If I remember rightly—for I am writing under circumstances that 

 prevent my refreshing my memory — I alluded on one occasion in the Society's 

 Journal to the limited field for original observations by naturalists amongst the 

 larger, compared with the smaller, mammals, in view of the fact that the former 

 attracted so much more attention both by their size and by the fact that many 

 of them were closely studied by sportsmen. Although this is perfectly true 

 from a comparative point of view, there is a great deal that we have yet to 

 barn regarding the habits and life-history of big game, more especially in 

 connection with their breeding seasons. I therefore take the opportunity of 

 directing the attention of our members to the following important note that 

 appeared over the well-known initials " R. L." in the Field of 3rd Septem- 

 ber 1904. 



