18 Mr. A, Hume on Indian Ornithologj/. 



We took fourteen eggs, varying from 1"25 in. to 1"062 in 

 length, and from -812 to '937 in breadth, all more or less in- 

 cubated ; while in a fourth nest, in the wall of our verandah, 

 we found four young ones. This was particularly noteworthy, 

 because from my study-window the pair had been watched for 

 the last month first laying the foundations of a future genera- 

 tion, then flitting in and out of the hole with straws and fea- 

 thers, ever and anon clinging to- the mouth of the aperture and 

 laboriously dislodging some projecting point of mortar, then 

 marching up and down on the ground, the male screeching out 

 his harsh love-song, bowing and swelling out his throat all the 

 while, and then rushing after and soundly thrashing any chance 

 Crow (four times his weight at least) that inadvertently passed 

 too near him. Never during the whole time had either bird been 

 long absent, and both had been seen together at all hours. I 

 made certain that they had not begun even to sit, and behold 

 there were four fine young ones, a full week old, in the nest ! 

 Clearly these birds are not close sitters down here; but I well 

 remember a pair at Mussoorie, some 6000 feet above the level of 

 the sea, the most exemplary parents, one or other being on the 

 eggs at all hours of the day and night. The morning sun beats 

 full upon the walls, in the inner side of which the entrance to 

 the nest is; the nest itself is within four inches of the exterior 

 surface, and at 11 o'clock the thermometer gave 98° as its tem- 

 perature. I have often observed in the Terns {Sterna javanica, 

 Seena aurantia, and Rhynchojjs alhicollis) and Pratincoles [Glareola 

 lactea), which lay their eggs on the bare white glittering river- 

 sands, that so long as the sun is high and the sand hot, they 

 rarely sit upon their eggs, though one or the other of the parents 

 constantly remains beside or hovers near or over them ; but in 

 the early morning, on somewhat cold and cloudy days, and as the 

 night draws on they are all close sitters. I suspect that instinct 

 teaches the birds that when the natural temperature of the nest 

 reaches a certain point, any addition of their body-heat is unne- 

 cessary; and this may explain why, during the hot days (when 

 we alone noticed them), in this very hot hole, the Mynahs spent 

 so little of their time in the nest while the process of hatching 

 was going on. 



One more piece of good luck yet remained for us. For weeks 



