BUTASTUE. 159 



" In one nest I found a half-fledged young one, another dead 

 with its stomach eaten away, and two live lizards, one of them 

 partially eaten. On March 27th, I noticed one of these birds 

 commencing its nest, and another on the 7th April ; the latter 

 nest I took on the 10th May, and it then had three hard-set eggs." 

 On another occasion, he says : " This species is very common in 

 these parts ; it builds in the forks of trees, generally sheeshum or 

 khirna, a very rude and small nest of twigs. I have noticed this 

 bird pulling to pieces a nest of a Pied Starling, but I imagine it 

 was only to get the materials, as the nest was empty at the time." 



Writing from Sambhur, Mr. R. M. Adam says : " The White- 

 eyed Buzzard is pretty common here. I took a nest with two eggs 

 on the 29th April, 1870 ; but they must lay much earlier than this, 

 as I saw a pair making love on the top of one of the salt heaps on 

 the 26th September, 1870. In Oudh I obtained a nest on the 

 30th April, which contained three fresh eggs." 



Major Biugham writes : " The White-eyed Buzzard breeds at 

 Allahabad from the end of February to the middle of May. The 

 nest is very loose and straggling, made of thin branches and un- 

 lined. Two, I think, is the usual number of eggs laid, but I have 

 taken three. 



" The birds nest I think invariably in trees ; and it is not a hard 

 nest to find, for when there are eggs in it the female keeps uttering 

 a curious mewing cry, beginning at daybreak and lasting with in- 

 tervals of rest through the day ; at least, such was the custom of 

 one that built in my compound." 



Writing from Deesa, Colonel Butler says : " I found a White- 

 eyed Buzzard sitting on a small stick-nest near Deesa on the 29th 

 March, 1876. The nest was very small for the size of the bird, and 

 built near the top of a neem-tree growing in a hedge surrounding 

 a yard near the Cavalry Lines. Both parents sat on a tree close 

 by, squealing all the time the nest was being robbed. Another 

 nest in a wood near Deesa, 16th April, 1876, contained one fresh 

 egg. The nest was similar to the one described above, but in the 

 fork of a tree and only about 12 feet from the ground." 



Mr. Scrope Doig, referring to Sind, writes : " Found nests on 

 8th and 27th April. My man found the nest on the 8th April, 

 and shot the bird (male) before he took the eggs. The nest of 27th 

 I found myself, and owing to the pugnacity of the birds, who con- 

 tinually stooped at the man who was climbing the tree, I was 

 obliged to shoot one of the old birds. The nest was situated on 

 the bank of the Narra, in a babool tree about 20 feet from the 

 ground. Eggs in both nests three in number." 



The late Mr. A. Anderson sent me the following interesting 

 notes : 



" The nidification and eggs of the White-eyed Buzzard are 

 so well known that I shall confine my remarks on this subject 

 to describing three clutches of marked eggs which I have recently 

 acquired, as these abnormally coloured varieties are, I believe, unique 

 in the collection of ornithologists. 



