198 HIHUNDINIU.i:. 



centre of the uesfc. Frequently have I seen the ' spherical or oval- 

 shaped mud nest with the long neck or tubular enti'aiice,' described 

 by Jerdou, but only once with eggs iu it. This peculiar-shaped 

 nest is also constructed at tinies by H.Jilifera, and from frequent 

 observations I have sometimes fancied that it is intended more for 

 a winter residence than for breeding purposes. I have recently 

 observed many of both species actively employed in the construction 

 of these nests, long after the breeding-season was well over. In 

 the beginning of August I robbed a nest of //. erythropygia, found 

 attached to the roof of an outhouse : and in the identical place 

 from whence I had removed the former nest, the same pair of birds 

 have now nearl}^ completed a new nest, ' oval-shaped, ^ith the 

 tubular entrance,' for, as I suppose, a winter retreat. The birds 

 only occupy it at night. The eggs are pure white, and four appears 

 to he the greatest number." 



During the breeding-season the old birds fly round about their 

 nest, morning and evening, uttering quite a variety of rather pretty, 

 somewhat musical notes. During the day they remain near, and 

 one of them generally in the nest, or the pair may be seen perched 

 on some stone below the nest, sitting for an hour at a time preening 

 their feathers, the male every now and then singing a few notes. 

 Old quarries, like those near Futtehpore Sikri and Chunar, are 

 favourite breeding-haunts of this species ; and so are the old Mos- 

 lem ruins that abound so in Upper India. 



The nest-chamber is lined, sometimes thickl)'-, sometimes thinly, 

 with feathers only, as a rale, but occasionally with a mixture of 

 these and fine grass. 



They are not easily driven away once they have made a nest. 

 I have broken into nests twice running, to see if any eggs v\ere 

 laid, and each time the birds have repaired the nest, in which, 

 despite these repeated burglaries, they have finally laid. 



Major C. T. Bingham remarks : — " Breeds at Allahabad in 

 March, April, May, and June, and at Delhi I have found their 

 nests also in September. They build loiig retort-shaped nests 

 made of pellets of mud, plastering them against the i-oof of culverts 

 underneath, against the top of caves, in banks of rivers, and in 

 ruins, against the roof of any deserted mosque. Three, 1 think, 

 is the ordinary number of eggs laid ; these are pure white, and 

 rather cylindrical in shape." 



Colonel Butler, writing from Aboo, says : — " Very abundant at 

 Aboo, where it breeds during the rains in June and July, fixing its 

 curious retort-shaped nest usually to the roof of a cave, and laying 

 two or three pure white eggs. I am doubtful whether it occurs in 

 the plains during the hot weather, but I am inclined to think it 

 does not. My opinion is that most of them pass the hot weather 

 on the hills, where they abound at that season, and breed iu the 

 rains, returning to the plains again about the end of September, 

 soon after which they disappear entirely on the hills, and become 

 wvy common all over the plains." 



And he subsequently addeil tlie following note: — "The lied- 



