72 Proceedings. 



than our Swallow. These Palm Swil'ts skim over the sm-face 

 of the maidan. Jerclon describes them as abundant in all 

 parts of India where Palmyra and Cocoa-nut Palms grow. 

 Their nests are always placed on the leaf of the Palmyra 

 (Borassus JJabelliformis), and are made of the thicliened mucus 

 from the bird's salivary glands, mixed now and then with 

 feathers, or bits of grass, or the down of some seed. Occa- 

 sionally twenty or thirty pairs build their nests in one tree. 

 Some old nests of the Indian Swift I afterwards saw under a 

 ledge of rock near Hoshungabad, built against the rock as 

 Martins place their nests, but made of feathers, which must 

 have been glued together with mucus. 



On the telegraph-wires of the Bombay and Baroda Kailway 

 rows of exquisite Bee -eaters {Merops viridis) were seated, 

 watching for flies and butterflies, after which, anon, one of 

 them would dart. Their rich, green backs and breasts and 

 coppery heads excel in brilliancy the European Bee- eater's. 

 At Hoshungabad, Itarsi, and Sohagpur, in the Central 

 Provinces, as well as all along the Great Indian Peninsular 

 Eailway, Bee-eaters abounded. Their note is a not unmusical, 

 querulous whistle. An Indian landscape is scarcely complete 

 without these bright birds, whose slender build and long tail- 

 feathers give them an unusual grace. Jerdon says that they 

 breed in holes in banks of ravines, or rivers, or on road-sides. 



Amongst the Bee- eaters I saw my first Drongo Shrike 

 (^Dicriirus macroceixus), a glossy, black bu-d, with the actions 

 of a Flycatcher, the flight of the Swallow-tribe, and the habits 

 of the Shrikes, to which it is nearly allied. No one having 

 once seen a Drongo Shrike will easily mistake it again. In 

 size it exceeds a Starling, but its shape is utterly different. 

 The long, deeply-forked tail gives it a character of its own. 

 The popular name for the Drongo Shrike is "King-crow," so- 

 called from its habit of chasing and bullying the Crows. 

 Though the Crows are much bigger than the Drongo, it will 

 drive them about, and give them no rest till they leave it 

 master of the field. A very common perch for the King-crow 

 is the back of a Buffalo or Pony, from which post it will dart 

 after any winged insect that may be passing. Its screech is 

 agreeable rather from association than from musical qualities. 



