Nidification of certain Indian Birds. .Jyj\j 



side, coupled with the heat, did not suffer me to have much 

 rest. The taking of the third nest therefore devolved on 

 Ungun ; and it was with no little pleasure that I welcomed 

 him back by nightfall with the third youngster, along with 

 one of the parent birds. This one, too, proved to be a female, 

 and was fully adult, without the slightest indication of spots, 

 either on the wings or head, or any striation on the under- 

 parts. The plumage was a good deal faded and worn, espe- 

 cially the tail-feathers and primaries ; the tibial plumes were 

 incrusted with dry mud, caused, no doubt, by its hunting for 

 reptile food in moist ground. 



I cannot say much for the architectural skill of this Eagle. 

 The nests I examined, as regards size and appearance, were 

 very similar to those that are built by the common Kite ; they 

 differed in one material point, viz. that they were placed near 

 the top of the tree, so as to command a good view of the 

 country. All seven were built on good-sized (but not the 

 largest) Sisso trees [Dalhergia sisso) , and in every instance on 

 the banks of the canal, adjacent to which, in ordinary sea- 

 sons, there are pools of water and small marshes such as 

 Aquila naevia and A. hastata delight in. My first nest was 

 actually built on a tree overlooking the roadway, ov puttree, 

 on the edge of which the inhabitants of a small village were 

 in the habit of bathing. 



A curious feature in the nidification of this Eagle yet re- 

 mains to be recorded, viz. that it lays a single egg. This is 

 not only the result of my own investigation, but Mr. Brooks's 

 collectors, who procured several eggs the previous season, 

 bear me out in the conclusion I have arrived at. Captain 

 Marshall, too, who was stationed for some time at Saharun- 

 pore, informs me that one egg is the normal number. 



My retm-n trip had now to be arranged ; and, as bad luck 

 would have it, I was doomed to travel by rail during the day. 

 Leaving Saharunpore by the midday train of the 1st July, 

 with the flesh of six chickens packed in ice, I reached She- 

 koabad on the forenoon of the following day. For the re- 

 mainder of the journey (another eighty miles) I was fortu- 

 nately my own master, and could stop my travelling carriage 



