in and around Lucknow. 187 



Scavenger- Vultures, Kingfishers, Paroquets, Woodpeckers, 

 Barbets, Wire-tailed Swallows, Rollers, Nuthatches, Honej''- 

 suckers, Babblers, Bulbuls, Jungle-Crows, Minivets, and 

 many others may be taken, and the nesting-season may be 

 said to have fairly commenced. The House-Kite [Milvus 

 govinda) breeds in large trees all over cantonments and civil 

 lines, and its nest is a very conspicuous object. 



Kites, as a rule, do not interfere when their nests are 

 touched, but I knew of one pair that were an exception. 

 In this case the birds were so bold that they knocked the 

 cap off" the head of a boy who happened to be passing the 

 tree in which the nest was placed. Another boy tried to get 

 the eggs, but one of the birds dashed at him when within a 

 few feet of the nest, driving its claws through his clothes, 

 and so startling him that he beat a hasty retreat. After 

 that the nest was left undisturbed. 



On two occasions, on going up to a Kite^s nest, I found 

 that one of the eggs had a hole in it, apparently made by the 

 bird's beak or claw. Whether they were thus damaged by 

 accident or from anger I cannot say. In one case the old 

 bird sat very close on her single egg, which eventually 

 proved to be quite rotten ; the white of the egg with the 

 mud of the nest had formed a cake over the hole, and pre- 

 sumably the bird was either unconscious of, or had quite 

 forgotten, the damage done. Mr. A. O. Hume (' Nests and 

 Eggs of Indian Birds ') mentions similar cases in his articles 

 on Faico jugger and F. chicquera. 



The White Scavenger- Viilture {Neoph7'on percnopterus) , or, 

 as the College boys call it, the White Hawk, has several 

 nests in and around the station. Most of these are on 

 ruins or private bungalows, and are consequently difficult to 

 get. I only managed to examine three, and of these two 

 were on trees. The first nest that I found was a collection 

 of sticks, rags, dung, and putrefying skin, piled in the first 

 fork of a very large mango, about 10 feet from the ground. 

 In this evil-smelling mass lay two very richly-coloured eggs, 

 which proved to be quite fresh. Both birds were by the 

 nest, but on our approach they flew oft', and, settling on the 



