196 FALCONIDJE. 



Mr. W. Theobald manes the following remark on the breeding 

 of this bird in the valley of Cashmere : " Lays in the third week 

 of April ; eggs, six in number, blunt ovato-pyriform ; measuring 

 from 1-51 to 1'68 inch in length, and from 1'22 to T27 inch in 

 breadth ; colour, pale reddish brown, freckled and blotched with 

 brownish red. Nest, hole in serai wall of Thanna, south of 

 Blramgaala, Shahabad, and valley generally." 



The late Dr. F. Stoliczka remarked that " Tinnunculug alau,- 

 darius is common all through the North-western Himalayas, on the 

 southern side as well as in West Tibet. I found this common 

 European Hawk breeding near Chini in narrow crevices of rocks. 

 The eggs are dirty white, mottled and irregularly spotted with reddisli 

 brown. The young birds vary extremely in colour of their 

 plumage ; but the old ones are in every way identical with those 

 from Europe." 



Prom Dhurumsala the late Major Cock wrote : " This bird 

 remains with us all the year round, although it retires higher up the 

 mountain during the month of May. 1 noticed a pair of birds about 

 a precipice some two or three times, and concluded that they 

 built there. On the 27th of May I went with a rope, and found 

 that there were three young ones, only a few days old, in a niche 

 in the precipice that was overhung with grass, rendering the 

 entrance to the nest difficult to be seen. This nest was on the 

 mountains, at a height of 7000 feet above the sea-level, and L 

 doubt their breeding lower down, though an officer assured me he 

 saw a Kestrel breeding on a cliff on the banks of the Beas in 

 February. I found another nest, at about 8000 feet elevation, on 

 the ^7tri of May, with one egg in it. I had watched the birds 

 pairing some days before, and with the help of a rope managed to 

 secure the solitary egg. On the 5th of June I sent up a party, 

 who got three more eggs out of this same nest. Two of the eggs, 

 the largest and smallest, measured 1-55 by 1-16 inch and 1-35 by 

 1-1 4 inch." 



Mr. E. Thompson sends me the following : " The Kestrel 

 breeds in this country, preferring the shelving of a rock to any 

 other situation. I have seen the nest and young on the precipices 

 of the Sewaliks. A dozen nests might be pointed out on the 

 precipices overhanging the Kossilla river between Kbyrna and the 

 Lat Bridge. In the valley here noted, it may be seen breeding in 

 company with the Neophron. 



" At Pooree, in the interior of Gurhwal, a Kestrel carried off a 

 large piece of apugree belonging to one of my shikarees and took 

 it off to its nest, whence it was recovered by the fellow letting 

 himself down by a rope. I was witness to the whole transaction. 

 At Nynee Tal, two pairs breed yearly ; one on the western preci- 

 pices, the other on the south-eastern, not far from where I live." 



Mr. Thompson remarks that this species is " common during 

 the cold weather in all parts of the Central Provinces. I doubt if 

 these birds leave the mountainous parts of these provinces for 

 breeding purposes, as I have seen couples hanging about near 



