27 A BIRD CALENDAR 



the red wattles that hang down from the sides 

 of the head like drooping ears. 



The nest of this bird is a massive platform 

 of sticks, large enough to accommodate two 

 or three men. Hume once demolished one of 

 these vulturine nurseries and found that it 

 weighed over eight maunds, that is to say 

 about six hundredweight. This vulture usually 

 builds its nest in a lofty pipal tree, but in 

 localities devoid of tall trees the platform is 

 placed on the top of a bush. 



February marks the beginning of the nesting 

 season of the handsome pied kingfisher (Ceryle 

 rudis). This is the familiar, black-and-white 

 bird that fishes by hovering kestrel-like on 

 rapidly-vibrating wings and then dropping 

 from a height of some twenty feet into the 

 water below ; it is a bird greatly addicted to 

 goldfish and makes sad havoc of these where 

 they are exposed in ornamental ponds. The 

 nest of the pied kingfisher is a circular tunnel 

 or burrow, more than a yard in length, 

 excavated in a river bank. The burrow, which 

 is dug out by the bird, is about three inches in 

 diameter and terminates in a larger chamber in 

 which the eggs are laid. 



Another spotted black-and-white bird which 



