342 CHAEADEIID^E. 



The late Mr. A. Anderson remarked : " A pair of these Lap- 

 wings had taken up their quarters on the flat roof of the Opium 

 Cut cherry at Mynpoorie, and they used to sit on the parapet of 

 the verandah, evidently quite at home, though they certainly looked 

 extremely awkward. Mr. Porcelli promised to get me their eggs 

 from the house-top (for I had no doubt that they were like 

 Mr. Home's Peewits in this respect) ; but from all accounts the 

 Crows used to eat them up as quickly as they were laid. It was 

 not till the llth May of the present year that Mr. Porcelli suc- 

 ceeded in sending me a complete clutch of four eggs : the birds 

 had collected all the little pieces of loose mortar on the roof and 

 made a raised-up nest. About a fortnight afterwards Mr. Porcelli 

 sent me a second sitting of the same number ; and in June he sent 

 me a third batch of three, with the following note : ' On this 

 occasion the first egg was laid 9th June ; the second, 13th June ; 

 and third, 18th June. All eleven eggs are the produce of one 

 pair, for I have never seen more than two birds during the whole 

 time I have lived in this house/ 



" March would appear to be the most general month for this 

 Lapwing to lay ; but I have no doubt that some of them rear more 

 than one brood in the year, as they lay occasionally all through the 

 autumnal and summer months, and sometimes even during the cold 

 season." 



From Sambhur Mr. E. M. Adam writes : " This species is very 

 common. I have taken its eggs from March till July. The nest 

 is a small hollow in the ground, without any lining ; round the 

 edge of the nest a few small stones are placed. A pair nested on 

 the high-water level of the lake near to where salt had to be stored, 

 and I have repeatedly seen the bird sitting on the eggs, although 

 the natives were passing backwards and forwards within a yard of 

 it. The young run about as soon as they are hatched, and when 

 pursued try to make themselves look smaller, if that were possible, 

 by squatting near a stone or piece of earth. The parents are 

 equally frantic with grief and pleasure when they see the young 

 caught and let loose again." 



From Jhansi Mr. F. E. Blewitt writes : " The first four eggs 

 I obtained here were taken on the 17th April, 1868. Their brief 

 history is a melancholy one, for I found them on the identical spot 

 where, during the Mutiny, the ladies and gentlemen of Jhansi 

 were cruelly butchered. 



" The birds breed well into July. The nest is a simple hole 

 scratched on the surface soil, sometimes bordered with pebbles or 

 gravel, and at other times with loose sand. The regular number 

 of eggs is four. 



"1 never saw, as Jerdon relates, this bird congregate in ' flocks.' 

 At the beginning of the cold season only I have certainly seen the 

 parent birds and their brood in company, otherwise the birds are 

 almost invariably in pairs or single." 



Writing from Kotagherry (Nilghiris), Miss Cockburn says : 

 " The Eed-wattled Lapwings are rather scarce up here, but they 



