Editorial. 59 



Editorial. 



Nestinc; oI' -i hk Si iiMii i<-( kksiki) Cockatoo (Cac~ 

 atua oalerita). -.Mi-. Whitley lias aL;ain succeeded in rearing 

 two young birds of this species during last season in a state 

 of controlled liberty. The young birds arc still doing well 

 an illustrated article of this inter.-sting c\ ent will appear in our 

 ne.xt issue. 



Nesting Habits of the JIai.\ Quail {Coturtiix cor- 

 omatideUcas . — In an interesting letter in the "Journal of the 

 Bombay iNatural H'istory Society," Vol. XXIV., No. 4, Capt. 

 J. A. Budden, describing the n'sting of this species in the 

 Central Pro\inces, states : 



" riic R^iin C^uail pair prupiirmory to nesting in ihe Uiicr halt of 

 " I-'cl luary. By the middle ol .Maicli, sonu'times befoie, should the hot 

 ' wcitluT he .Khiuning prematurely, nests are to be found. These 



■ iiri; generally in the grass, toounding water nullahs. The > hu.ks are 

 " about in the early jiart of .\pril and by the time of the monsoon 

 '"has set in (fir-.i t)r setond week in .June) the chicks are big enough 

 " to withstand liic torrential rain. .\s soon as the rains diminish in 

 ' September, the parent birds nest again, chicks being about early in 



"'October. The possession of a good pointer enabled me to make the 

 " foregoing observations with some degree of accuracy . . . she stood 

 " to Quail on nests when taken for runs over the grass lands during the 

 " nesting season. The bird would sit within; a foot of her nose and I, 

 ' on several occasions, walked quietly up behind (he dog and observed the 

 " bird on the nest. I found, a Quail never rose directly from the nest, 

 *' bu' always ran several yards before rising. . . . The chicks were 

 *■ marked with the usual game-bird chick marking." 



NiDIFICATION OF THE GOLDEN WEAVER-BiRD {PlO'C- 



ella javanensis). — In the same Journal (B.N.H.S.), Mr. J: 

 M. D. Mackenzie gives the following interesting account: 



"yWhen on tour in the Sittang delta (June 30th to ,luly 4th) I 

 "found Plocclla javaiunsis breeding in considerable numbers. . . , . 

 " The nests were placed from 3 to 12 feet from the ground, generally 

 " about 8 or 10 feet. They were mostly built in a thorny 



" bush, locally called ' Kathit," at the extremities of the branches, sup- 

 " ported by the twigs being worked into their structure : the support came 



■ indiscriminately from above, below, or all round the nest. I found a 

 " few nests (mostly unfinished) in elephant grass, but 80 per cent, were 

 " in small trees or bushes." 



