138 Mr. C. Ingram — Ornitholoykal 



in a thick shaded part of the wood. It was placed at tlie 

 hollow root of a small tree^ where it was so deeply sunk iu 

 the ground that the bright blue eggs were completely out of 

 sight (see text-fig. 1, p. 137). Either by intention or 

 accident the outermost wall of the nest-cavity was quite flat 

 and the eggs, lying close up against it, were completely 

 hidden from the front, and could only be seen with difficulty 

 from a point immediately above. 



When approaching the nest the female uttered a low 

 tak, tak, and kept cocking her tail over her back like a 

 Nightingale. 



A second clutch of five eggs was brought to me on June 3rd. 



The eggs, of an unspotted turquoise-blue, are somewhat 

 oval in shape. The nine examples in my collection average 

 0-81 by 0-6 in. 



6. CixcLus PALLAsi Tcmm. Pallas's Dipper. 

 Ciriclus j>allasi Seebohm, 13. Jap. Emp. p. 54. 

 .lap. : Kawagarasu. 



Common on many of the torrential streams and especially 

 so in the Nikko range of mountains. A pair were nestinj^ 

 under a little cascade close to the jNlangwanji at Nikko, and 

 Mere carrying food to their young, heedless of the many 

 tourists that were then visiting the place. As this was early 

 in May and the young were nearly fledged, this species must 

 be an early breeder. I was once surprised to see one of these 

 Dippers settle, like a diminutive Gull, on the surface of a 

 small reservoir, in which position it remained for about half 

 a minute before flying ofi:*. 



7. Pratincola mauka (Pall.). Siberian Stouechat. 

 Pratincola maura Seebohm, B. Jap. Emp. p. 57. 

 Jap. : Nobi-taki. 



Plentiful on Fujiyama, where I took two clutches of eggs 

 in the third week of May : I found another nest with young 

 on June 5th. The song and habits of this species do not 

 differ materially from those of P. rnbicola. The eggs in my 

 possession, and others that I have seen from Japan, are 

 rather darker than those of the European bird, but are 

 otherwise vcrv similar. Average measurements 0'72 x O'S.'i in. 



