T7EOLONCHA. 139 



Colonel Sykes tells us that " these birds live in small families. 

 I have frequently found them in possession of the deserted nests 

 of the Common Weaver-bird ; but their own nest is a hollow ball, 

 made of a delicate Agrostis, with a lateral hole for the entrance of 

 the birds. I took a nest in the fork of a branch of the Mimosa 

 arabica; it contained ten oblong minute white eggs. The cry of 

 the bird is ' cheet, cheet, cheet,' uttered simultaneously by flocks 

 in flight.'' 



Long ago, after a shooting excursion we had made together, 

 Mr. F. R. Blewitt wrote me the following account of a nest of 

 this species that he found in the Delhi District : " You may 

 remember, the first morning we went out together, just after you 

 had shot the Buzzard, having a large nest on a reunj tree searched ; 

 it was then empty, but the other day, happening to pass that way, 

 I found three eggs of the ' eternal ' Aquila faluescens in it. As my 

 man ascended the tree to fetch the eggs, I saw a pair of the small 

 Mania malabarica hopping about from branch to branch, near to 

 the nest, in great anxiety, chirping loudly all the while. Taking 

 the binoculars to watch the birds and their, as it appeared to me, 

 strange movements more closely, I saw one of them suddenly 

 enter and disappear in a small hole in the under part of the large 

 nest ; the other immediately followed the first, then both came 

 forth and commenced hovering about the man, who had by this 

 time reached the ne.st. Not knowing what the hole could be there 

 for, I directed the man to inspect it, when to my astonishment it 

 turned out to be a nest in a nest. The Munias evidently had 

 selected that of the Eagle to make their own in to secure warmth 

 from their mighty companion. From the position of the under 

 nest, the Munias at any time when in it could not have been more 

 than 2 inches separated from the sitting Eagle." 



Tears later he favoured me with the following general account 

 of the nidification of this species, founded on his experience in the 

 Delhi, Jhansi, and Saugor Divisions : " Breeds in August and 

 September. The nest is a large loosely-constructed fabric of fine 

 grass, at least on the outside. The lining is of soft flowering 

 grass, and very neatly laid on in the interior of the nest. The 

 nests are almost always found supported in the branches of low 

 jungle bushes, sometimes about the middle of the bush, at others 

 near the top. The nest is of various shapes, and its intended form 

 appeared to me to be previously regulated according to situation. 

 AVhen it could be done with convenience as well as safety, the nest 

 assumed an almost globular shape, with an entrance-hole at one 

 side ; at other times it was open at the top, with the sides, or 

 rather the grass of the sides, curving over. Again, some of the 

 nests were of the shape of a hemisphere, with a hollow for the 

 eggs ; but of whatever shape the material of each nest was precisely 

 the same fine grass outside, and the lining of the flowers of 

 grass. 



" It is very difficult to state the regular number of eggs of a pair. 

 I have found as many as fifteen in one nest, and every one of 



