336 



" On two occasions I found six eggs in one nest, and once I 

 found two fresh eggs." 



From Kumaon and Gurhwal, Mr. E. Thompson tells us that 

 " Upupa nigripennis breeds, beginning early in February, till end 

 of May. In the Sub-Himalayan region these birds, breeding in 

 forest or jungly tracts, select hollows of trees at no great elevation 

 from the ground. The eggs, four or five in number, of a very 

 pale blue, are laid on the bare wood without any preparation or 

 pretence to a nest being made. The young are hatched sparingly 

 covered with a beautiful white down, and emit a very offensive 

 smell. The female sits closely and hisses like a snake if approached. 

 I have known instances when, if a young brood was destroyed, or 

 the eggs removed, the parent birds set about and selected a new 

 site for a nest, and therein recommenced the nidification process. 



" The Common Hoopoe extends far into the Himalayas, but 

 keeps along the lowest levels of the warmer valleys. I have 

 known them to breed and live all the year round at Sireenuggur in 

 Gurhwal." 



The late Colonel McMaster wrote : "At Madras I found 

 (February 24) a Hoopoe's nest in a hole in a tree close to the 

 club : there were two fully-fledged young birds in the nest, about 

 which there was not the faintest trace of evil stench (vide p. 391 of 

 Jerdon)." 



Major C. T. Bingham writes : " Both at Allahabad and Delhi 

 this bird is an early breeder. I have found hard-set eggs by the 

 first week in April. It nests in holes in trees and walls, by pre- 

 ference I think the former. When the eggs are hard-set, the birds 

 sit very close. I caught one off a nest in a hole in a neem-tree on 

 the banks of the Western Jumna Canal on the 25th March ; the 

 eggs, three in number, were laid on decayed scrapings of wood." 



Colonel Butler remarks : " Belyaum, 31st March, 1880. A nest 

 in the hole of a tree about seven feet from the ground, containing 

 fully-fledged young ones, I could not see how many." 



Messrs. Davidson and Wenden note from the Deccan : " Very 

 common and breeds." 



Mr. A. G. Cardew sends me the following note : " A pair of 

 these birds has bred for several successive years in a drain in the 

 Government Offices at Ootacamand, the mouth of which is closed 

 by a grating only just giving room for the birds to enter. The 

 nest was placed at least four feet from the mouth of the drain. 

 The young birds are fledged towards the end of April." 



Colonel Legge writes in the ' Birds of Ceylon ' : " The breeding- 

 season in the north of Ceylon lasts from November to April, and 

 possibly a second brood may be reared later on in the year, as 

 Layard mentions the shooting of young birds in August." 



The eggs of our Indian Hoopoes are commonly a very lengthened 

 oval, almost always a good deal pointed towards one end, and 

 sometimes showing a tendency to be pointed at the other end too, 

 a most remarkable form of egg, which I cannot recall having ob- 

 served in any other species. In colour they vary somewhat, 



