PTYO^OPROGNE. 183 



and 011 the 9th of June I observed a pair at their nest at the bottom 

 of the Ghat. 



" At Poona, on the 1st March, 1871, I saw a nest under a ledge 

 of stone in a well. The old bird was sitting, and though repeatedly 

 frightened off the nest only made two or three circles round the 

 inside of the well, and returned to the nest. 



" The nest was then given up as inaccessible, from distance and 

 other causes ; but on the 20th of the following August my brother 

 went down to the same nest by means of a rope and found two 

 eggs, on which the bird was sitting. He described the nest as 

 extremely fragile ; it crumbled to pieces on the least touch. 



" In June of the same year my brother, Mr. E. Aitken, saw a 

 nest, in which the parent bird was sitting, under the porch of the 

 Club at Poona. Of this he has perhaps informed you himself." 



Messrs. Davidson and Wenden remark : " In the Sholapoor 

 districts it breeds in abundance in the rains and in February. At 

 Egutpoora it was breeding in the verandah of the Engineers' bun- 

 galow in the middle of March and first week in August. At 

 Laiioli on 20th March." 



Mr. G. Yidal, relating his experiences in the South Konkan, 

 says : " Common on the coast and for a few miles inland. I have 

 found nests on the cliffs in February, March, and April, and under 

 the eaves of a bungalow in August." 



Referring to Rajputana in general, Lieut. H. E. Barnes tells us 

 that "the Dusky Crag-Martin breeds during March and April, and 

 again in July and August. The nest, composed of pellets of mud, 

 well lined with feathers, is deep saucer-shaped, and is generally 

 affixed to the side of a house under shelter of the eaves." 



Mr. R. Thompson writes to me that in the Central Provinces the 

 majority, lie thinks, breed in March and April, but certainly in 

 Jhansee and Saugor January and July are the months. 



The eggs of this species are intermediate between those of 

 H. fliivicola and B. smithii so far as the character, extent, and 

 intensity of markings go. The ground-colour is white, and they 

 are all more or less thickly speckled, spotted, and at times, though 

 rarely, blotched with different shades of yellowish and reddish 

 brown. Unlike those of H. Jluvicola, which are as often pure 

 white as not, these eggs are always pretty thickly marked ; but 

 these markings, though better defined and darker than those of 

 //. Jluvicola, are neither so bold nor so bright as in H. smithii. As 

 in both these species, the markings are always most dense towards 

 the broad end, where a more or less ill-defined zone or irregular 

 and partial cap is not uncommon. In length they vary from 0-68 

 to 0*75 inch, and in breadth from 0*5 to 0*56 inch ; the average of 

 a large number of measurements is 0'72 by 0*52 inch*. 



* Colonel Butler has communicated to me the following note on the breeding 

 of P. obsoleta (Cab.). This bird is not yet known to breed in India: 

 " I had two eggs sent me this year of a Martin, which I fancy must belong to 

 the present species, although I cannot at present vouch for their identity. 



" The nest, which was built of inud with a lining of feathers, and of the usual 



