102 Mr. A. Hume on Indian Ornithology, 



and there water dribbles sluggishly in long green mossy streaks 

 down their grey faces. Here it is that at the present time 

 (November) our little Buntings, after a hearty breakfast on 

 grass-seeds, come between 8 and 10 a.m. to drink. A few days 

 ago I sat in one of the archways of the vaulted chamber for a 

 couple of hours watching them, seeing at least a hundred pairs, 

 and shooting some dozen or so. The birds always come in pairs, 

 (this is the breeding-season), chasing each other, not with long- 

 flights, but flitting from Euphorbia to Euphorbia, or point to 

 point of rock, until near one of these drinking-places, when, 

 perching on the rock-face, where some tiny ledge affords a com- 

 fortable footing, they drink for a moment greedily, then pause 

 to squat where they stand and enjoy the warm sunshine, drink 

 again, zealously pick out minute grains of quartz (which always 

 abound in their stomachs), then sit and sun themselves again, 

 and so on. Presently one will fly up, making a pretence of 

 swooping at the other ; and then off" they go, skirmishing up the 

 hill-side, one after the other, like a couple of kittens. 



The natives here call them " Andhi Cherya" which might be 

 translated " the blind birds," a by no means inappropriate name, 

 as they will often sit motionless until one's foot is almost on 

 them. The people, however, interpret it as signifying "the 

 bird to which men are blind -," and there is no doubt that their 

 plumage harmonizes so well with the grey stones interspersed 

 with reddish-yellow stunted grass, that even at short distances 

 they are practically invisible so long as they remain, as they 

 often will for ten minutes at a time, perfectly still. 



The breeding-season appears to be November : the natives 

 say that they also lay early in July, at the commencement of 

 the rains ; but as to this I can say nothing. 



The very first birds that I shot, on November the 2nd, the 

 day after I arrived here, proved on dissection to be breeding ; 

 and out of the oviduct of a female shot on the 3rd, I took a 

 nearly perfect though colourless e^^. For several days we 

 hunted without success, finding many nests that I beheved to 

 belong to this species, and seeing everywhere females about, 

 straws in mouth, but meeting with no eggs. At last, on the 

 12th of November, I myself accidentally stumbled upon two 



