210 MOTACILLID.f:. 



(almost wet) ground, and it was a large massive structure of green 

 moss liued internally with fine grass-stems. The bird, during the 

 time I was engaged in examining the nest and eggs, stood motion- 

 less on the grassy slope, not more than ten yards from \Ahere she 

 had been flushed, eyeing me all the while with outstretched neck, 

 and remained in that position till I shot her. 



" These eggs are very large for the size of the bird, much more 

 so than the usual run of the eggs of kindred species {AnOvis arho- 

 reus and A. i^ratensis), and larger than a second sitting of fresli 

 eggs A\hich I obtained later on. On the same day several more 

 old birds and two fully-fledged young ones, while in the act of 

 being fed by their parents, were brought to bag. 



" I next encountered the same species in great abundance at 

 Furkia, on the banks of the Pindar, close under the glacier, at an 

 elevation of 12,000 feet. My camp here was pitched on solid ice, 

 and it snovA'ed heavily during the night : it was indeed an ' abode 

 of snow.' Here I saw Aquila chri/saetus, gyrating over the snow- 

 cap])ed peaks, and Fyrrhocorax alpiims for the first and only time. 

 Chdimarrornis Icucoccphala, RutieUla fuliijmosa, Enicurus scoxleri, 

 and IJydrohata asiaticcf were my constant companions, and were to 

 be seen enjoying themselves on the spray-covered boulders in the 

 foaming torrent ; while my paharees shared the same cave wit h 

 Columha li'uconotn, and amused themselves by catching marmots 

 (^Arctomys hemachalanus). 



" Here, with the snow lying several feet deep on the ground, I 

 found my second nest of Anthus maculatus : it contained three 

 callow young ; but as the nest-architecture differed very materially 

 from the first one, and as the parent birds were so terribly wild, 

 I was necessitated to have the sitting bird noosed on the nest ; 

 shooting it was quite out of the question. This nest \A"as composed 

 entirely of grass-bents, a veiy sliallow saucer-like affair without 

 the addition of any moss or warm materials, as in the first one, 



" The third and last nest, containing four beautiful fresh eggs of 

 the same dark type as the first clutch, was taken atBepulla on tlie 

 14th of June. This one, as regards position, size, and materials, 

 was exactly similar to the second one above described. 



" To sum up. Anthus maculatus affects by prei'erence the move 

 open grassy mountain-slopes in the immediate vicinity of woods, 

 at elevations from 7000 to 12,000 feet ; these open glades in 

 Northern Kumaon are thinly covered \Aith trees and o\ergro\\n 

 with beautilul thick, soft, velvety grass, about a foot high, with 

 occasional Iussocks, especially in the neighbourhood of slieep-pens, 

 sufliciently dense and 'ligh to aff"orG cover to a hare. This, at any 

 rate during the breeding-season, is jort/- excellence the abode of both 

 Anthus luaculaiiifi and A. rosacexs, which are the only two species 

 of Pi])its to be met with at so high an cdcvation. 



" The birds on these undulating m(>ado\\s, at limes sti-elching 

 away for miles, and covering the crest of some of Ihe highest spurs, 

 are extremely lively and very didlcult to a|)])roach. You have fre- 

 quently to go o]i 'all fours,' taking advantage of every hollow and 



