BREEDING SBASONS. 7/ 
in any one month is twenty-eight, and that month is November; and 
further research will probably show that this number is under the 
mark. In May four hundred kinds of birds are known to breed, and 
the number is probably little short of five hundred. Of the twelve 
hundred or so species found in this country, the breeding of about 
six hundred has already been ascertained, of the remainder many are 
migratory and do not breed in this country at all, but there still 
remains a wide field for discovery, the great bar to further progress 
being the deadly character of some parts of the country at certain 
seasons of the year. The great majority of the birds, the breeding of 
which is yet unknown, frequent swamps or dense forests, and probably 
breed at seasons of the year when exploration is not only attended with 
extreme discomfort, but with serious risk of life. Some few kinds, such as 
hawk owls (Ninor) and some of the goat suckers (Caprimulgide) and 
others, though they breed in accessible and healthy localities, escape 
observation by their shy and retiring habits. 
In every part of India the vultures and many of the large eagles 
breed during the cold season, the most notable exception is the breeding 
of the Indian tawny eagle (4. vindhyana), the spotted eagle (4, nevia), 
and the long-legged eagle (A. hastata) in the height of the hot weather 
in moist localities, such as Saharunpoor, the Terais, and Calcutta, but in 
other parts these species too conform to the general rule. Many of 
the owls, especially the large ones, breed in the winter, and almost all the 
others breed in the early spring. The water birds breed during the 
rainy season. In July and August, in the country affected by the south- 
west monsoon, and in December in those parts of the south-east 
coast which are under the influence of the north-east monsoon. In 
some places the herons are known to breed in the spring, this has 
been ascertained in Oudh and also at Saugor, but it is unusual, The 
small warblers also of all kinds breed chiefly, though not without exception, 
during the rainy season. For the rest the season varies with locality. 
In the Himalayas the chief season is April, May, and June, but 
many eggs may be found in February and March; and also in July. 
All the finches breed late, chiefly in July in the higher ranges. From 
August to November birds’ nesting does not repay the labor and fatigue 
of walking in the hills, few, if any, eggs are to be found, and only definite 
search after particular kinds, which there may be good reason to believe 
are then breeding, should be made. In December and January the 
big vultures and eagles have eggs, and their eyries should be sought for. 
