Letters, Announcements, i^c. 111 



this tree there was a mass of sticks measuring not less than 5 or 

 6 feet in diameter. A pair of gigantic Storks daily winged their 

 way to and from this tree ; and my observations on them led me 

 to conclude that they were nesting ; these were, moreover, con- 

 firmed by my egg-collector, who had noticed both birds in the 

 tree at the same time. Seen from below, the nest appeared to 

 be an accumulation of materials from the nests of Vultures 

 [Gyps bengalensis) and Wokhabs [Aqidla fulvescens); and I had 

 hitherto considered it to be the common roosting-place of the 

 Black-necked Storks. 



On December 26, however, I persuaded a boy to climb the 

 tree, a feat which he accomplished with great difficulty; and I 

 was rewarded with the acquisition of four eggs, one quite fresh, 

 one addled, and two with young chicks in them. During the 

 month of December I visited three other nests, with the following 

 results. From the first, two young birds flew off in a very 

 juvenile state of plumage. From the second, four fully fledged 

 young birds fell and were so killed. From the third, one young 

 bird flew away fully fledged. Other nests were found empty. 

 The eggs I took from the first nest were oval and of a uniform 

 pure white colour, but had the inner lining of the dark green 

 tint common to the eggs of birds of this class. They measured 

 2| in. by 2^ in., and struck me as small when considered with 

 regard to the size of the bird and its nest. In 1868 I asked 

 Mr. Brookes, the well-known ornithologist of Etawah, to look 

 out for nests of this species. On December 13, 1869, he wrote 

 to me saying that he had found several nests containing one, 

 two, and four eggs, the last number appearing to be the full 

 complement. The first egg he obtained in the middle of 

 October, but after that date he could discover no more ; so 

 that I infer that the eggs I took must have been laid unusually 

 late. Mr. Brookes also remarked that the eggs were very 

 uniform in size. 



The position chosen for the uest is usually the top of the 

 highest tree. It may be not unfrequently observed in a huge 

 solitary Seemul- or Cotton-tree, rising some 100 feet from the 

 grassy plain, and visible for miles round. The nest is composed 

 of a mass of sticks and boughs, to which is added a little coarse 



