MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 757 



No. XXIV —TIGERS HAMSTRINGING THEIR PREY BEFORE 



KILLING. 



During the hot and cold seasons of 1004-05 I know of half a dozen domestic 



buffaloes used in timber work being hamstrung. Since the animals were 



in no case killed, I put this down to panthers, but after seeing Mr. 0. W. Allan's 



note on this subject on page 499 of the last number of the Journal, I have 



now no doubt that tigers were the cause : as the herder was generally near and 



drove the buffaloes to shelter. 



S. B. BATES, P.Z.S., &c. 

 Mansi, Kalha District, 



U. Burma, 30th August 1905. 



No. XXV— A CONGREGATION OF BRAHMINY KITES 



(HALTASTUR INDUS). 



Mr. Donald's note in the August issue (No. 3 of Vol. XVI) of the Journal on 

 " A Congregation of Harriers " reminds me of a somewhat similar occurrence 

 which I witnessed on the Pikkili Hills in the Salem District last April. My 

 camp was pitched about 100 yards from the village of Pikkili close to a clump 

 of large tamarind trees and three or four more of the same trees stood together 

 in the middle of the village. On the evening of my arrival just after sunset, I 

 noticed a number of Brahminy Kites flying towards the village and settling on 

 the higher branches of both clumps of trees, and as more were coming in a 

 continuous stream from the same direction, I began to count them. I counted 

 over 300 but they were now arriving so rapidly it was impossible to continue. 

 In about half an hour they had apparently all arrived and in that time at least 

 300 more must have come. They were quite silent but very restless until it 

 was quite dark. A good many birds were in immature plumage but no other 

 variety of Kite was present. 



A couple of Jungle Crows (Corvus macrorhynclms) were nesting in one of the 

 trees and the anxiety they displayed when a Kite approached them was very 

 amusing, but they successfully defended from intrusion a space of a dozen 

 yards or so from the nest. 



I remained on the spot for three days and the same thing occurred every 

 evening. They had all disappeared before sunrise, but I was never early enough 

 to see them go. I could not ascertain from the villagers, who were a particu- 

 larly apathetic lot, how long before the kites had first arrived, but the state of 

 the ground below did not suggest a very long period and in all probability the 

 crows were the first tenants of the trees. At any rate the fact is perhaps worth 

 recording that over 600 Brahminy Kites were in the habit of roosting on the 



same spot night after night. 



R, FOULKES. 



(Madras Survey). 



COIMBATORE, 



19//i September 1905. 

 29 



