EIIIPIDUIJA. 33 



which contained two ( ggs ; and a second nest at D(>lhi on the 

 8th July, siiuihir to the former and similarly placed; this also con- 

 tained two eggs. The nests are neat heautil'nl little cups, firmly 

 made of very fine grass-roots and unlined ; they are plastered, 

 however, on the outside with cobwebs." 



Colonel E. A. Butler remarks : — " Several nests, containing three 

 fresh eggs each, in March and April at llydrabad, Sind, and a nest 

 containing two slightly incubated eggs, 1st July in the same neigh- 

 bourhood." 



Again, from Sind he writes: — "Kurrachee, June 10th, 1877. 

 A nest containing three fresh eggs on one of the small outer 

 branches of a tamarind tree about tvvehe feet from the ground." 



And, detailing his experiences at Deesa, he says:— "I found a 

 nest of the AVhite-browed Fan tail at Deesa on the 1st June, 

 1876, containing one fresh egg. The nest ^^as placed upon a 

 small bough of a Ficus relujiosa about 20 feet from the ground. 

 The old bird when I visited it the first time seemed quite as 

 fidget ty on the nest as they are when hunting for insects, turning 

 constantly from side to side with outspread tail, often turn- 

 ing a cou)plete circle. Every now and then she would fiy off on 

 to a neighbouring bougb for a second or t\\'0 and then return to 

 the nest again. The cock bird is always close at hand, and often 

 utters a few soft sweet notes, which can hardly, however, be called 

 a song. He has also a harsh Shrike-like note, which he utters if 

 a Crow or any other bird approaches the nest, upon which 

 occasions he is quite as pugnacious as a King-Crow, dashing 

 angrily at the intruder w ithout the slightest fear or hesitation, and 

 mobbing him persistently until he leaves the spot. I found 

 another nest on the 18th June in another tree about 10 yards oii 

 built by the same pair of birds, containing three much incubated 

 eggs. 



" On the 22nd instant I visited the place again and found to my 

 surprise that the same pair of birds had built another nest on a 

 small branch of the same tree within a few feet of the one I had 

 taken on the 18th instant. On the 29th I sent a boy up the tree 

 and found the nest contained three fresh eggs. On the 1st July 

 they built a nest on the stump o£ the bough broken off with the 

 nest taken on the 18th June, and on the 10th July I took three 

 fresh eggs from it. In a couple of days 1 visited the place again, 

 and found that thev had almost completed another nest (the fifth). 

 I returned on the IQth July, and took three fresh eggs out of it. 

 I visited the place again "on the 24th July, and found another 

 nest (the sixth) built on the other side of the tree. On the 28th 

 I went to take it and found three fresh eggs. Strange to say the 

 old birds had built another perfect nest, this time on the same 

 bough about one foot above it, for what reason I do not_ know, as 

 of course only one (the lower) contained eggs. I visited the 

 place a few days later and saw the two old birds again, but they did 

 not build another nest. 



VOL. II. ^ 



