28 Mr. J. Whitehead's Ornithological 



wards the first company put in their appearance^ flying high 

 over the plain^ and uttering their monotonous note^ giep, giep. 

 On the 4th of June I opened several of their nests, which 

 were bored in a level sandy field, running in about 9 feet 

 from the entrance. All the nests contained their full number 

 of eggs, which is from five to seven. The eggs were very 

 dirty, being half buried in beetle^s wings and remains of 

 other insects, the whole nest being a moving mass of small 

 maggots and various kinds of lice. The Bee-eater is rare on 

 the west coast, the ground being unsuitable to their nesting- 

 arrangements. 



27. Hoopoe. Vpupa epops. 



In 1883 first seen on 24th March, in 1884 on 30th March. 

 Fairly common in the plains. I took two nests out of holes 

 in stone walls ; the first on 27th May, with six eggs, quite 

 fresh. I found a nest in an old tree on 7th June, with four 

 young fully grown. 



28. Great Spotted Woodpecker. Dendrocopiis major. 

 Common in the mountain-forests, often working down to 



the sea-coast in winter. First eggs taken on 20th May. 



29. Wryneck. lynx torquilla. 



Only two seen, one on 8th January ; the other a man had 

 just shot, on 17th January. 



30. Whitehead's Nuthatch. Sitta ivhitelieadi. (PL II.) 

 On the 12th June 1883, I left a small village to visit the 



nest of an Fagle which the shepherds had told me of. Start- 

 ing at 4 A.M. with a mule and guide (taking provisions for 

 two days), it was not until 2 p.m. that avc reached the summit 

 of the mountain. As it was close upon G o'clock before the 

 nest had been visited, I decided to pass the night in a small 

 stone hut (used by the shepherds during the hotter mouths). 

 The next morning, wishing to get a shot at some Alpine 

 Swifts, which were nesting in a high crag near, I got up 

 early, and when returning heard a curious whistle, which I 

 thought was that of the Crested Titmouse. After I had waited 

 a few minutes a Nuthatch crept out to the end of a pine-bough 



