326 CUBSOBIIIXE. 



be called a desert but for numerous bushes of the lana (Anabasis 

 multiflora) and the ak (Calotropis hamiltoni)." 



Since this appeared, the Khan Sahib has taken nearly one 

 hundred eggs of this species, and I have myself visited his domains 

 and taken more than a dozen with my own hands. 



The eggs I found placed in situations precisely similar to those 

 in which, in the North- West Provinces, I had found the nests of 

 C. coromandelicus. July was the month in which I found them, 

 and it is in this month generally that the great bulk are found ; but 

 the Khan has taken tbem/rom the middle of March to the middle 

 of August, and the laying-season varies a good deal according to 

 the rains. 



The following is an extract from the Khan Sahib's diary for 1870, 

 showing the dates on, and situations in, which he found nests in 

 that year, and the number of eggs in each nest : 



No. of eggs. Date. Nature of locality. 



2. 14-3-70. Bajra stubble. 



1. 28-4-70. Under bush close to Urneewalla perao. 



1. 8-5-70. Bajra stubble-field. 



2. 13-6-70. Lemon grass. 



3. 19-6-70. On low sandy land near the Sutlej. 



1. 20-6-70. Waste land. 



2. 23-6-70. Scrub jungle. 

 2. 26-6-70. 



1. 1-7-70. Clump of grass. 



2. 1-7-70. Low jungle. 



1. 3-7-70. Amongst some oopla in jungle. 



2. 5-7-70. Jungle. 

 2. 5-7-70. Jungle. 



2. 8-7-70. Amongst low grass. 



2. 8-7-70. Low jungle. 



2. 10-7-70. 



2. 13-7-70. 



2. 18-7-70. Cultivated land. 



1. 22-7-70. Open waste land. 



1. 22-7-70. Low jungle. 



The nests, he tells me, have always been small hollows, 3 to 5 

 inches in diameter and at most 2 inches in depth ; generally bare, 

 at times with a slight lining of dry grass, which may have been 

 placed there by the bird or may have lodged there accidentally. 

 Three is the greatest number he has yet found in any nest, and 

 this only exceptionally. Two he considers to be the usual comple- 

 ment. 



Typically the eggs are very broad ovals, only very slightly com- 

 pressed towards one end, but here and there somewhat more 

 elongated examples occur. Except that the ground-colour is yel- 

 lower and more buffy, many of the eggs, both as to shape and 



