146 Letters, Announcements, ^'c. 



served them during the cold season early in May, and I had 

 come to the conclusion that they did not breed with us. 



Fancy therefore my delight at finding the other day that they 

 bred in hundreds at the Sooltanpoor salt-works, which are situ- 

 ated in the Goorgaon district, some five and thirty miles south of 

 Delhi. 



The birds ai'e seen in small numbers throughout the year, but 

 congregate in great numbers early in May about the works, which 

 consist of brine-wells and many hundred acres of shallow rectan- 

 gular evaporating-pans, fi-om one to two hundred feet square, and 

 from six to ten inches deep. These pans are merely depressions 

 dug in the soil and lined with chunam or fine lime, obtained by 

 burning kunker, a nodular concretionary limestone, found in 

 beds near the surface, more or less throughout the plains of 

 upper India, Small strips of ground from one to five or six 

 feet broad, divide the pans ; and on the margins of these, or even 

 in the beds of disused pans, where only a little brine ever stands, 

 the Stilts build their nests. 



They collect together small pieces of kunker, or the broken 

 lime lining of the pans, into a circular platform, from five to 

 seven inches in diameter, and from two to three inches in height ; 

 on this again they place a little dry grass, on which they lay 

 usually lay four eggs, but not unfrequently only two or three. 

 They begin to lay towards the end of May ; and by the begin- 

 ning of July numbers of young are to be seen about, and most 

 of the eggs that remain are hard set. The majority of the birds 

 lay during the second week in June. 



The temperature of the nests at this time, in the full sun, was 

 probably quite 140'^. 



The eggs, though slightly smaller, are almost exactly similar 

 to those of the European Stilt figured by Mr. Hewitson ; only, as 

 a body, the ground-colour is slightly dingier and less bright than 

 in his figures. 



The merit of this discovery belongs to Baboo Kalee Naraiju, 

 one of my officers, who is in charge of these works, and, during 

 the cold season, assured me that this species did breed amongst 

 the salt-pans. He also noticed (and he is perfectly correct) that 

 the eggs, though greatly resembling those of the Red-wattled 



