70 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



the rains, mfiking .1 small rough grass nest in the rice fields in July 

 and August and laying four or five eggs. 



BoTAURUs STELLARis, Linn. (Hume's Cat., No. 936.) 



I shot a single specimen of this bird in the Kumta taluka on the 

 1st December, 1890. 



GoiSAKius MELANOLOPHUS, Rafil. (Hume's Oat., No. 936 pis.) 



This bird is a permanent resident in Kanara and I do not consider 

 it an extremely rare bird. It is, however, the shyest bird I know, 

 keeping to small nullahs and streams surrounded by evergreen woods. 

 When disturbed it flits noiselessly through the thick forest, and though 

 alighting only a short distance off, again rises before one can get with- 

 in shot. For four or five days I continually endeavoured to secure a 

 pair at Kudra which kept to the little stream beside the bungalow 

 but failed to get a shot. The first time I saw one there it rose from 

 my feet from the little water hole close to the road and lit some eighty 

 yards off in a thick tree. I followed it from tree to tree without 

 success, and I was equally unsuccessful in trying to stalk or drive the 

 pair on other occasions. 1 have seen the bird at Supa, Anshi, and 

 Kumbharwada, all in the Supa petta and at Siddapur, all in May, and 

 at many places round Karwar in the rains. I have seen its nest 

 several times. In all cases it was placed in a small tree overhanging 

 a nullah (then, i.e., the rains) full of water. It is a small structure 

 much resembling that of Ardeola grayi and generally built of light 

 coloured sticks. It is not concealed at all and generally from fifteen to 

 twenty feet from the ground. In one case I found four eggs hatching 

 (indeed one egg was hatched and the shell under the tree), and in the 

 others two eggs or young. The eggs are white with a faint bluish shade 

 and slightly pointed towards the smaller end. They are laid in the end 

 of July or the beginning of August. When breeding the birds are 

 bold and come freely to the nest. 



Nycticorax griseus, Linn. (Hume's Cat., No. 937.) 



A rare visitor to Kanara. I saw a large flock one evening in April, 

 1894, at Yellapur, and I have seen them on the coast in November and 

 December, and at Halyal in April. 



Tantalus leucocephalus, Forst. (Hume's Cat., No. 938.) 



I have only seen the pelican ilns in the neighbourhood of Halyal in 

 February, and this only on two occasions. 



