224 Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker on the [Ibis, 



XII. — Notes on the Nidification of some Indian Falconidae. 

 By E. C. Stuaut Baker, M.B.O.U. 



(Plate V.) 



There are a comparatively large number of Indian Eagles 

 aud Falcons the nidification and breeding-habits of wliich 

 are now fairly well known, but concerning which there is 

 ])ut little on record, and that little scattered about in various 

 books, papers, and periodicals which are not easily accessible 

 to the oologist or field-naturalist who may desire to find out 

 whether his own discoveries are new or not. 



In many cases the breeding-habits o£ these magnificent 

 birds are most interesting, and the bravery and determi- 

 nation of some of our Indian Eagles are not surpassed by 

 the ancient tales of prowess accredited to the Golden Eagle 

 in the Highlands of Scotland or to the Lammergeyer in the 

 Tyrol. Generally, too, the surroundings of our rarer forms 

 are so fascinating that they give an additional glamour to 

 the search for their nests. Some haunt the bleak and for- 

 bidding hills of the North-west Frontier, where the scanty 

 vegetation seenris only to render more glaring the hot and 

 dusty aspect of everything else ; and where a shot may be 

 the only notice one gets of more dangerous game on foot. 

 Others may be found in the heart of evergreen forests where 

 the foot of civilized man has never yet trod their carpets 

 of moss and fern, whilst others again frequent only the 

 scattered deciduous forests of the drier portions of the 

 lower hills. 



Falco peregrinns peregrinator Sundevall. 

 (Plate V. tigs. 3, 4.) 



The Shahin. 



Hume divided this Falcon into two races, F. atriceps and 

 F. peregrinator^ but further material has shown that these 

 cannot be discriminated — indeed, in more than one instance 

 a typical male of the one has been found breeding with an 

 equally typical female of the other so-called species. 



