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



Unless I am mistaken in the species, I have on several occasions seen both old 

 and young birds eating fruit. I saw young birds on May 18th and 21st. The 

 whole plumage, except the wings and tail, was brown, spotted with yellow. 



Ochromela nigrirufa. — The Black and Orange Flycatcher is not uncommon 

 about Coonoor. Jerdon's description of its habits is good, except that the 

 eminent naturalist says "it is a very silent bird." The bird is anything but 

 silent. It continually gives forth a cheeping note, one which might emanate 

 from an insect. The bird always seems to take a low perch about two feet 

 from the ground. 



I saw a young bird on May lftth and another on May 21st. I saw the latter 

 receive an insect from the mother. 



The young birds are coloured as follows : The whole head, neck, breast, 

 and (I think) the back is yellow, heavily spotted or mottled with dark-brown. 

 The tail, which is very short and broad, is bright-yellow. 



The abdomen and under-tail coverts are very pale-yellow. The note of the 

 young bird closely resembles that of the adult. 



Culicicapa ceylonensis. — The Grey-headed Flycatcher. 



Its habits are rather phlegmatic for a Flycatcher. I have watched one in the 

 early morning, sitting for five or ten minutes on end on a branch, looking very 

 sleek and comfortable ; but it was "taking in" everything, the head being in 

 constant motion. The bird will then suddenly become very active for a few 

 minutes, making a number of little sallies into the air, as is the wont of fly- 

 catchers. It does not by any means always return to the perch it left, although 

 it usually comes back to the same tree or bush. It has a feeble twittering note. 

 It is not a shy bird, and will often allow one to approach within six feet of 

 where it is perched, and when disturbed flies only a few yards. It is fairly 

 common in the woods about Coonoor. 



Rhipidura albifrontata. — The White-browed Fantail Flycatcher is very 

 numerous about Coonoor. I came upon a nest placed in the fork of the lowest 

 branch of a tree about ten feet from the ground. The nest was as described 

 in Oates, in it were three eggs, also as described by him. These hatched out on 

 May 19th. It is perhaps worthy of mention that, so far from these eggs being 

 protectively coloured, I could easily distinguish them for a distance of 15 feet. 



Aiihiopsar fuscus is the common myna in this part of the world. One bird 

 had a nest containing young, situated in the broken-off branch of an old tree. 

 The young birds must have hatched out about May 5th. 



D. DEWAR. 

 Madras, May 1904. 



No. II.— THE OCCURRENCE OF THE BLACK-CAPPED KING- 

 FISHER (HALCYON PILEATA) IN NORTH LAKHIMPUR, 



UPPER ASSAM. 



On the 7th April Halcyon pileata made its appearance in this quarter, fre- 

 quenting a jan which leaves the River Dejoo at the base of the Duphla hills and 



