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



taken of the flat surface of the palm-leaf to build the nest on. It was composed 

 of dry grass, straw and rubbish, and iilled the entire space round the leaf, 

 about 8"x4" wide, outside measurements, with a neat deep cup in the 

 centre 2i"x2", lined with camel hair. It was so loosely made that it fell to 

 pieces on being taken out. Eggs 4, broad blunt ovals, a little pointed at the 

 small ends, with a fair amount of gloss, of a pale greenish-grey, with numerous 

 dark-brown and reddish-brown spots and blotches covering the whole egg; they 

 also have secondary of a light purplish colour under the others. The position 

 of the nest in a bush and the colour of the eggs are not what I expected 

 in a /Sax«coZa; but I watched the birds building the nest, and shot the male 

 as it left the nest. I am unable to measure the eggs as I have so Uttle kit 

 here, but they are about the same size as, and something like, highly-coloured 

 large eggs of Thamnohia camhayenais. To-day I found two more nests of the 

 bird building, and I will send a clutch of the eggs with the birds for the 

 Society's collection, when I succeed in taking the eggs. The bird is now 

 common here, having appeared some three weeks ago, 



I also found on the 1st of June one egg of Caprimulgus europceus here, and 

 shot the female bird. 



R. H. RATTRAY, Major, 



22nd Punjab Infantry. 



Thull, Kuream Valley, May, 1898. 



No. XX.— CURIOUS CONDUCT OF A PANTHER. 



On the morning of the 19th instant, on my return from a successful stalk 

 after black buck, my shikaris told me they had marked a large panther into 

 a boulder-covered hill some four hundred yards from my camp. This hill is 

 full of caves and generally holds bears, but since the panther has taken up 

 his abode in the neighbourhood, the bears have shifted quarters to a more 

 congenial spot about three-quarters of a mile away. My Cutch shikari, 

 Ookha Bhil, said it was doubtful whether the beast was a panther or a small 

 tiger, the pugs were so large. So I had a macJian rigged up, and at 5-30 p.m. 

 went to sit up, accompanied by the above-mentioned shikari. The machan 

 was only screened on the side facing the hill ; between it and the hill the goat, 

 a beautiful speaker, was tied. There was, however, no time to add more 

 protection to the machan, m we sat in a most open position some 12 feet only, 

 off the ground. As the panther was said to be fearless of men, having several 

 times driven intruders away from his kills, and the goat bleated loud and 

 long, I trusted to his coming while there was still light enough to see by. 

 This he would have done, as the black-backed robin was fussing about, be- 

 tokening that the panther was on the move. However some men came along a 

 track some two hundred paces away to our left and made a great deal of noise, 

 80 the panther remained hidden. Just before it got too dark to see anything, 



