254 



of washing and scrubbing to restore them to their normal colour, 

 which seems to be almost pure white. 



" 24th July. Pound a nest containing two fresh eggs in a bed of 

 dense bulrushes growing in the middle of a small tank. The nest 

 was composed of a pad of coarse pieces of damp sedge and placed 

 in dense rushes about 2 feet above the water-level, the rushes 

 being beaten down for it to rest upon. The female bird rose 

 straight off the nest as the beaters approached it. On re-visiting 

 the tank on the 8th August a fortnight later I found another nest 

 precisely similar about 10 yards from the one taken on the 24th 

 July, containing three slightly incubated eggs. There were two 

 pairs of birds in the rushes, but in all probability, as there were 

 only three eggs in the second nest (four or five being the usual 

 complement), both nests belonged to the same pair of birds." 



And he found more nests up to the 6th Sept., on which date a 

 nest contained four slightly incubated eggs. 



Captain E. R. Shopland, I.M., records the following note from 

 Calcutta: "From an overhanging bush by the long tank close to 

 Bishop's College on 6th July I took the nest of a Chestnut 

 Bittern containing three eggs hard-set; the nest was composed of 

 grass and flat rush laid across, 8 inches in diameter and no de- 

 pression in the centre; it was about 4 feet above the water. 



" I took another nest of the above species on 17th July containing 

 four fresh eggs in the middle of a bed of rushes standing in 2 feet 

 of water; nest 5 feet above the water and placed on a lot of 

 rushes which have been bent down and interlaced. The riest was 

 entirely composed of this rush split up and in lengths of 8, 9, and 

 10 inches." 



In Ceylon, according to Colonel Legge, this Bittern breeds in 

 June and July. 



Writing from Pegu Mr. Gates says : " Usually lays five eggs, 

 but I have found six occasionally. Nest on ground in swampy 

 places, a mere pad of green grass ; Lower Pegu. July 26th, six 

 eggs slightly incubated. July 30th, five eggs fresh. August 10, 

 four eggs fresh. August 19th. five eggs much incubated. 



" Eggs measure in length from 1'36 to 1'21 and in breadth from 

 1-1 to -98. The average of 20 eggs is 1-28 by '99. The colour is 

 dull white without gloss and the shell is very smooth to the touch. 

 Fresh eggs, before being blown, are decidedly pink, the contents 

 showing through the shell." 



The eggs of this species resemble closely those of the Little 

 Bittern. They are dull white, sometimes with a very faint bluish 

 tinge, often with no perceptible trace of this. The texture of the 

 shell is very fine and compact, but there is no gloss. In shape the 

 eggs are broad regular ovals. 



Of all our Indian Herons with whose eggs I am acquainted 

 those of Bubulcus coromandus approach nearest to those of the 

 present species, but pale as is the tint of the Cattle-Heron's eggs, 

 it is quite pronounced, as compared with that of any of the eggs 

 of the Chestnut Bittern that I have seen. 



