44 TTJKDIDJB. 



of coarse worsted-like material, collected evidently from some old 

 piece of prison clothing, intermixed with tine dry grass-stems, 

 being substantially lined with black hair, probably human. The 

 other was composed externally of fine dry grass-stems, intermixed 

 with a piece of red dungaree, and lined with black hair, either goat's 

 or human. I left these nests for more eggs, and on returning two 

 day's later with my usual luck found both empty and deserted. 

 What it is that takes the eggs of these small birds I can't con- 

 ceive ; but so sure as eggs are left, so sure are they to be taken by 

 whatever it is that robs the nests. On the 3rd inst. I visited no less 

 than four nests, all oi : which contained eggs when I looked at them 

 on the 1st April, viz. two nests of Corydalla rufula and the two 

 Bush-Chats above mentioned, and in all four instances the eggs 

 that I had left but two days before were gone and the nests of 

 course deserted. 



" On the 8th April I found another nest in a hole in the bank 

 of the fort ditch containing three fresh eggs, similar to the above, 

 but rather greener, and with a few lilac markings mixed with the 

 chestnut spots at the large end. I shot the hen bird as she left 

 the nest to be sure of the species, and on picking her up discovered 

 another egg in her broken by the shot. The nest was similar to 

 those already described, being warmly lined with horsehair and tufts 

 of rat's fur. Jerdon gives 5 inches as the length of P. caprata 

 and 6| inches for P. bicolor, and mentions that he has observed no 

 intermediate form. 



" Eeferring to my measurement-book I find that in all of the 

 specimens I have collected both in Guzerat and in Belganm the 

 cocks vary from 5-j- to 5| inches and the hens from 5| to 5| inches*. 



"Hen birds about Belgaum show signs of a rudimentary white 

 wing-patch, 



" I noticed two young birds on the same date being fed by the 

 parent birds on a low bush near the same place ; the eggs in this 

 instance must have been laid therefore about the middle of Feb- 

 ruary, as they had evidently left the nest some days. On approach- 

 ing them the old birds uttered notes of alarm and flew away, and 

 the young ones dived simultaneously into the grass below, to be 

 seen no more, although I searched the spot closely for them for 

 some minutes. The way in which they disappeared like a flash of 

 lightning the moment they heard the alarm-notes of their parents 

 was very remarkable, and the way in which they managed to 

 escape my eye afterwards when I searched the grass for them was 

 more remarkable still. I have often seen a whole brood of dab- 

 chicks (P. minor} dive simultaneously with one loud splash on being 

 approached and reappear again gradually one by one until they 

 were all together, and then disappear again with another loud 

 splash on the slightest movement of the person watching them ; 



* P. bicolor does not extend so far north as Belgaum. All the specimens I 

 have examined from this place are P. caprata. ED. 



