MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 501 



that night, when it would break the other hind leg and then kill its prey at its 

 ease. My tracker also tells me that all the tigers in these parts kill the larger 

 animals by first hamstringing them. 



I should be glad to know if any other sportsmen have noticed this peculiarity 



in tigers in other parts of Burma and India ? 



C. W.ALLAN, B.F.S, 



Divisional Forest Officer, 



Pegu Division. 



Pegu, 15th October 1904. 



No. II.— NESTING OF THE HOOPOE. 



I took to-day the nest of the Indian Hoopoe (Upupa indica), and the account 

 of it may interest you. The bird had chosen a hole in the stump of a big 

 bough some twenty feet up in a large neem-tree. The hole went vertically 

 downwards some two feet before the nest was reached. This consisted of a 

 dead squirrel, all the flesh of which was completely dried up, but with a strong 

 fetid odour. I took five fresh eggs, measuring as follows :- "89 x '67 ; -92 X -67 ; 

 •87x'64; •87x , 67; and -90X-66. These were to all intents and purposes 

 white ; only when placed beside a dead white egg is the faintest blue tinge per- 

 ceptible. Cither Hoopoe's eggs I possess are all distinctly pale blue, and are 

 nearly all within '02 of a full inch in length by '69 in diameter. 



This nest appears interesting in the light of the Hoopoe's reputation for 

 liking a nest that smells, and also in reference to Pallas' statement that he 

 " once found the nest of one within the exposed and barely decomposed thorax 

 of a human body." 



ARUNDEL BEGBIE, Major, 

 (Indian Army). 

 Cawnpore, 25th March 1905. 



No. III.— FOOD OF PREDACEOUS FLIES. 



Walking through a forest some 45 miles due east of Bilimora Station my 

 attention was attracted to a living bundle that fell buzzing and tumbling cff a 

 tree. Rushing up and pouncing on it I found my prisoners to be a large Cicada 

 in the clasp of a fly of the Asiliidcv. The Cicada's body measures 1\" long and 

 T %ths wide at shoulder. He is consequently a very powerful insect. 



The fly had him on his back, his short beak buried in the other's chest, and 

 showed no disposition to let go whilst the pair were transferred to a handker- 

 chief. Later, he changed his suction-point to the shoulder. 



The fly was about the same length, but probably not a tenth of the weight. 

 He was given another live Cicada the third day and pierced it in the chest, 

 but he would not look at other flies and bees. 



F. GLEADOW, I.F.S. 



Bandora, near Bombay, April lyQ5. 



