MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 507 



I cannot remember if we found tiger's hairs iu the circle, but the hair and 

 skin of the bear had evidently been scratched off, and I left the place convinced 

 that a tiger had attacked, killed, and eaten the bear. 



G. K. WASEY. 



Chilton Foliat Rectory, 

 Hungreford Berks, May, 1905. 



No. XIII.-PLUCKY PEE-WITS. 



One morning when out riding at Deoli, Rajputana, during the early part of 

 the rains in 1898 my attention was attracted to the unusual behaviour of two 

 Pee-wits. One of the birds was flying backwards and forwards in much excite- 

 ment and constantly swooping to the ground close to where the other bird was 

 dancing about screaming. On coming closer I saw that the cause of all the 

 commotion was a large snake. I dismounted, and went for the snake which 

 dropped an egg it was about to swallow and made off ventre a terre. I succeeded, 

 however, in catching it up in about 20 yards and killed it with my riding cane, 

 breaking a second egg about a foot or so down its gullet in so doing. A bulge in 

 the snake's body made by a third egg, also broken, was plainly visible. 



I then returned to where the fracas between the Pee-wits and the snake had 

 taken place and soon discovered the nest with the fourth and last egg still 

 reposing in it close by unharmed. The eggs had not long been under incu- 

 bation judging from the condition of the egg broken by me in killing the snake. 

 I replaced the egg which the snake dropped when I first attacked it in the 

 nest, but unfortunately circumstances prevented me from revisiting the spot 

 to ascertain whether the pluck displayed by the Pee-wits in the protection of 

 their hearth and home was followed by an equal fortitude in carrying on their 

 nesting operations there after so rude a shock to their nervous system. 



The foresight displayed sometimes by Pee-wits in the selection of sites for 

 their nests was also impressed upon me once on another occasion. 



I was stopping in the Dak bungalow at Mandsaur, Central India, for a day 

 in July 1903, when over 3 inches of rain fell in the course of a few hours. The 

 whole compound practically was under water after the rain closed, except a 

 small square foot or so of ground on the highest part of which a Plover sat 

 serenely throughout the flood. To the ordinary eye there would have been 

 no indication in the absence of this practical test that this particular patch was 

 on a higher level or better drained than the rest of the Dak bungalow enclosure. 



J. MANNERS-SMITH, Major, V.C., C.l.E. 



Nepal, 28^ May, 1905. 



No. XIV— NOTES ON THE OCCURRENCE OF BONELLI'S EAGLE 



(H1ERAETUS FASCIATUS) IN CUTCH AND ON SOME FALCONS 



AND HAWKS OBSERVED AT THE OLD FORT AT BHUJ. 



Has Cutch been generally considered to be oi.e of the districts frequented by 

 Bonelli's eagle (Hieraetusfasciaiufi) ? 



