6 Mr. W. Jesse — Egging on the 



fact, is one of the few stations now in Northern India where 

 you can commence beating in the station itself, and come 

 home with a boar or two by 10 o'clock, after a good 

 morning's ride. 



The following two or three days were spent in searching the 

 country in the immediate vicinity of the station, but beyond 

 a few eggs of the Egyptian Vultui'C {Neophron ginginianus) , 

 Stone-Plover {(Edicnemus cre/j/7a«s), and Wire-tailed Swallow 

 {Hirundo smithii), I got nothing worth mentioning. I finally 

 made up my mind to spend the 9th on the river, searching 

 the banks, and to make a long day of it. Accordingly the 

 office babu, a most obliging man, was summoned, and orders 

 were given that a boat was to be found and everything ready 

 for starting early on the morrow. The tum-tum was at the 

 door by 5.30 a.m., and after a light chota hazri we jumped 

 in and found ourselves soon after 6 a.m. at Nathia Ghat, where 

 our boat and men were in waiting. The boat was a small 

 edition of the country craft, and very light and handy for its 

 size. The middle portion had been planked over, and on the 

 deck thus provided were placed chairs, provisions, guns, 

 binoculars, and collecting-boxes. 



It Avas a lovely morning when we pushed off, bright and 

 cool, and giving no indication of the tremendous roasting we 

 were to get later on. Slowly we drifted down stream, 

 keeping our ears open for the faintest cry of a bird, and 

 closely scanning every bit of sand with the glasses. The 

 method of procedure is as follows : — As soon as you near a 

 sandbank island — sand-spits not entirely surrounded by 

 water are almost always useless — if you see any birds upon 

 it, run the boat ashore, spread out your men in line, and 

 beat the whole place very carefully. By this means, if there 

 are eggs, you will not be likely to overlook them. We had 

 drifted for some little time without meeting with anything, 

 when the glasses revealed a Spur-wing Plover {Hoplopterus 

 ventralis) silting on the sand. Running the boat ashore, 1 

 walked straight up to the spot, and there in a slight hollow, 

 unlined, except for one or two small pieces of drift, were 

 four richly-marked eggs. These were not many days short 



