Capt. R. C. Beavan on various Indian Birds. 445 



season ; and I am inclined to think that many migrate thither iu 

 March for that purpose. 



At the end of March and beginning of April the jungles 

 swarm with them, and as many as fifty eggs of this species alone 

 have been brought to me in one day. As observed by Mr. 

 Theobald (J. A. S. B. xxiv. p. 532), it shows a great partiality 

 for fragments of cast snake-skins in the construction of its nest*, 

 which is in general a loose structure roughly made of grass, 

 bents, and fibres, and lined with horse-hair. It lays from three 

 to four eggs, of a dirty white colour, speckled with reddish-brown 

 spots most thickly massed about the blunt end— in some, form- 

 ing an ill- defined ring. 



Umballah, October 27, 1866. — I have noticed that this spe- 

 cies, which is so very abundant here a little later, and which 

 breeds here in numbers in February and March, has almost en- 

 tirely disappeared, and is conspicuous by its absence. 



481. Pratincola caprata. "White- winged Black Robin. 



Moulmein, September 14th, 1865. — Secured a specimen on 

 grass stalks in front of the Commissioner's cutcherry, appa- 

 rently a young male after the first moult, in fine plumage. 

 Length 5-5 barely ; wing 2*75 ; tarsus '75 ; tail 2; bill from front 

 •375; extent 7-25. 



Kalka, April 1st, 1867. This species is tolerably abundant 

 here now. Dimensions of a specimen as follows : — Length 5 '25 ; 

 wing 2-75 ; tail 1*875 ; bill from front '75 ; extent 8. They are 

 plentiful between this and Dhurrumpore (a bungalow on the 

 road to Simla, fifteen miles distant), the males being in full 

 song at this time of year. Irides dark brown ; the black on the 

 breast is succeeded by rufous, and then come the white under- 

 parts. There is also some rufous on the upper tail-coverts in 

 this specimen. This is not mentioned by Dr. Jerdon. Is it 

 the breeding-plumage? A bird procured at Umballah on 12th 

 November, 1866, and supposed to be the female of this species, 

 is very dark brown above, with rufous upper tail-coverts ; below 

 brown, tending to rufous on the breast and abdomen ; lower 



* [Aedon yalactodes has the same curious habit, which hitherto has not 

 been accounted for. (C/. supra, p. 80, and ' Ibis,' 185.9, p. 309.)— Ed.] 



