MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 225 



&c,) ; and I should like to know if they often have their ankles dislocated, 

 and whether in fact these joints, with bone above bone and rather flat, are 

 unfit for carrying their great weight," 



I have answered that, as far as I know, the elephants' ankle-joints are as 

 good as any other beasts, and that I never heard of an elephant with a dis- 

 located ankle. As for the weight, comparatively little is thrown upon this 

 joint. 



But I am not well acquainted with elephants, which are scarce in the 

 Bombay Presidency ; and should be glad of the comments of members more 

 widely acquainted with them. 



I need hardly add that the joint especially in question, is what Mr. Blanford 

 calls " the ankle-joint or heel in the hind leg, corresponding to the hock of 

 other ungulates" (" Fauna of British India " Mammalia, p, 463), the joint, in 

 short, next above the hind foot. 



W. F. SINCLAIR (late I.C.S.). 



102, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, 



London, S.W., May, 1898. 



No. XVIII.-LION CUBS. 



With reference to the information given by Surgeon-Captain Cleveland 

 regarding lion cubs being born with their eyes closed, I very much regret 

 I have not had the great advantage enjoyed by that officer of observing lions 

 in a wild state ; and I only based my statement, which appeared in the Jour- 

 nal on the young of the Hunting Leopard that " Lion cubs were born with 

 their eyes open," on what I had read in the lately published book on " Cats" 

 by R. Lydehker ; it forms one of the volumes of Allan's Naturalists' Library 

 and is edited by Mr. Bowdler Sharpe, of the British Museum. When describ- 

 ing the characters of the lion at page 28, line 21, he states, " Unlike the 

 majority of the family, lion cubs are born with their eyes open," but after 

 Captain Cleveland's clear evidence to the contrary, I now feel this must be a 

 mistake. 



G. S. RODON, Majoe. 



Dharwar, June, 1898. 



No. XIX.— THE NESTING OF THE RED-TAILED CHAT 

 {SAXICOLA CHRYSOPYGIA). 



I have the pleasure to record finding the nest and eggs of the Red-tailed 

 Chat {Saxicola chrysopygia), No. 628, Gates, at this place on 2nd June. ThuU 

 is a frontier outpost 60 miles from Kohat at the entrance to the Kurram 

 Valley,— elevation about 2,300 feet. The nest was a large, loose, straggling 

 structure in the centre of a dense wild olive bush about 18 inches from the 

 ground. A leaf of the dwarf palm-tree grew through the bush, advantage being 

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