FALCO. 191 



Messrs. Davidson and AVeuden, writing of the Deccan, say : 

 " Found first nest, with one fresh egg, on 4th January, and last, 

 with three almost fresh eggs, on 14th March. 



" On the last nest, built in a neem-tree, about 12 feet high, the 

 male bird was sitting, while the female was perched on another 

 tree 100 yards away." 



Mr. J. C. Parker notes : " Three fresh eggs were taken from 

 what appeared to be a Vulture's nest in a peepul-tree close to 

 Calcutta on the 18th January, 1874. Another nest was found on 

 the 23rd idem high up on a Casuarina-tree in the Magistrate's 

 compound, Dum Dum, containing three fresh eggs. The man 

 who was sent up had a regular battle with the female, striking her 

 repeatedly on the head with a stick before he could induce her to 

 quit the nest." 



The normal number of eggs is four ; but while five are occa- 

 sionally found, the bird often sits on only three ; and once I took 

 two eggs, ready to hatch off, out of a very old pair's nest, that in 

 former seasons had always contained the full number. In colour 

 the eggs vary much, as indeed do those of all true Falcons. The 

 usual type is a reddish, brownish, or yellowish-brown ground, very 

 thickly speckled and spotted all over with a darker and richer 

 shade of the ground-colour. The spots are often more crowded 

 at one end than the other, producing occasionally the effect of a 

 clouded cap ; some, in addition to the multitudinous specks, ex- 

 hibit bold red blotches, or dark streaky clouds, and some again are 

 very feebly coloured, a nearly uniform pale dingy buff, with scarcely 

 a trace of blotches or even specks of a darker hue. In shape, the 

 eggs are commonly a broad oval, slightly more pointed at one end, 

 of a dull, glossless, and slightly chalky, but still compact texture. 

 The egg-lining is white or slightly reddish white. 



Elsewhere 1 have thus described the eggs : " No very great 

 variation in shape is observable in the eggs of the species. They 

 are all a somewhat broad, but generally very perfect oval. In 

 texture they are rather fine, but at the same time (if I may so 

 express it) chalky, and they are perfectly devoid of gloss. The 

 eggs, as a rule, are a longer oval than those of Falco peregrinus, 

 and are scarcely ever so richly coloured as the latter often are. 

 The coloration is, of course, of the true Falcon type. Some eggs 

 are of a nearly uniform pale dingy yellowish brown, blanching 

 towards one extremity or the other, indistinctly clouded, blotched, 

 or mottled with a somewhat deeper and redder brown. Others 

 are a nearly uniform red-brown, with scarcely any traces of dis- 

 tinct markings ; others have a nearly pure white, reddish-white, 

 pale dingy yellow, brownish-yellow, or reddish-brown ground, 

 more or less boldly, extensively, and thickly blotched and clouded, 

 or even freckled, mottled, and streaked with more or less bright or 

 deep, brick- or blood-red. As a rule, the markings are not very 

 bold or sharply defined ; in but few is there any decided tendency 

 towards capping at either end, and all have a more or less freckled 

 and dotted appearance. These eggs fade much as time passes, 



