Trip to Kashmir. 15 



23. AcRocEPHALus STENTOREus (Hempr. & Ehr.). 



This very noisy bird swarmed along the reeds in the Dal 

 and other lakes between Gandarbal and Srinufrger. On the 

 evening of the 21st and the mornings of the 22nd and 24th 

 June we searched for nests and found at least fifty ; of these 

 about half contained eggs, while in other eases there were 

 young or nests merely being built. They were deep and 

 cup-shaped, and attached to reeds growing in water two or 

 three feet deep. The nests generally contained three eggs, 

 but we found clutches of four and five eggs, and in one case 

 six small young ones in a nest; the nests being generally 

 about a foot above the water. 



24. AcROCEPHALUs AGRicoLA (Jerd.). 



We found this Warbler only in one marsh near Gandarbal, 

 but there, on the 22nd June, it was very common ; the birds 

 flying about in pairs, and singing while on the wing. They 

 were evidently only beginning to build, as fully half the 

 nests we found did not as yet contain eggs. We, however, 

 in three or four hours' wading, obtained seven nests with 

 eggs ; these were solid cups, built in various water-plants 

 (in one case equisetum), and from one to three feet above 

 the surface of the water; they were composed of rough grass 

 with outwardly some reed-fibre and catkins intermixed, and 

 invariably lined with fine grass, and in two cases one or two 

 feathers. The eggs are miniatures of those of A. stentoreus, 

 but not quite so elongated ; they are in general boldly 

 marked ; in four cases we found clutches of four, and in no 

 other case was this number exceeded. 



25. Tribura major (Brooks). 



This bird we met with only at Sonamurg, where it was 

 very abundant among the long grass and weeds fringing the 

 forests. It never seemed to enter these more than a very 

 short distance, nor did we find it any distance in the open 

 from the verge of the forests. It is a very shy bird, skulking 

 in the grass, and unwilling to rise unless almost trod upon, 

 when it would fly a few yards and again drop into the grass. 

 We did not see it till the 8th June, when in the evening we 



