PRATINCOLA. 43 



cutting, and of course at the level of the station, which is about 

 1900 feet, I believe, above the sea. The birds never seem to go 

 much above that, in Khandalla at least. 1 do not think the hole 

 was excavated by the birds, for I have seen one or two other nests 

 in different situations, such as a small depression or shallow hole, 

 partly covered by a rock. In this case the hole was rather deep, 

 so that I could not see very distinctly into it ; but the hole seemed 

 well lined (as it usually is) with grass or fibres, and there seemed 

 to be at least four eggs. In one that I saw two years ago there 

 were four eggs. They can scarcely have more than one brood in 

 the year, for I do not think they begin to breed till May, and they 

 return to the plains before the end of June." 



Mr. Benjamin Aitken observes : " The Pied Bush-Chat does 

 not occur in Bombay, and I have not seen it abundant anywhere 

 on the plains of the J3eccan or Berar ; but on the hills, from Khan- 

 dalla (about 2500 feet) to Poorundhur (4472 feet), its name is 

 legion, and there it breeds in the end of April and in May. Its 

 nests are everywhere, but as the bird is as wary as the Lapwing or 

 the Holier, it requires much patience and considerable practice to 

 find one. Personally I only once found as many as five young 

 ones in a nest ; but I have twice had seven brought to me by 

 natives, and under circumstances that made it improbable that they 

 had been taken from different nests. I do not know whether many 

 of these birds retire to the hills to breed ; but I have seen them 

 commoner at Poorundhur in November than I saw them at any 

 time on the plains." 



Mr. H. Wenden writes : " I only obtained one nest of this 

 bird in Sholapoor, although 1 had several men out daily to look for 

 more. Yery few of this species are seen in that station, but 100 

 miles south they are very numerous and seem to take the place of 

 the Indian Black Eobin ; and this may be accounted for by that 

 part of the country being covered with bush and scrub-jungle. 

 The only nest found at Sholapoor was built in a hole in the mud 

 walls of a stable the hole in which the top bar of a loose box 

 would, when the stall was in use, be inserted. As regards con- 

 struction, it di tiered but very slightly from that of Thamnobia 

 fulicata, and that only in point of size, being smaller. The nest 

 contained four eggs, three of which I send you." 



Colonel E. A. Butler sends me the following note : 



" Belgaum, 1st April, 1880. Four slightly incubated eggs. The 

 nest was built in the hole of a bank of a ditch 4 feet deep encircling 

 the jail compound, and consisted of a neat little hollow pad of very 

 fine dry grass-stems and roots, scantily lined with horsehair and 

 a tuft or two of rat's fur, probably pulled out of an old dead car- 

 case. The eggs were pale greenish white, spotted all over, but 

 most thickly at the large end, forming a cap or zone, with reddish 

 chestnut. On the same date I found two more nests both similar 

 to the above, one being built in the same bank as the above, the 

 other in the hole of a bank of an open well. Both contained two 

 fresh eggs. One of the nests was composed externally principally 



