Nidification of Indian Birds. 281 



together that, though the outer material w;is all interlaced 

 with the grass-roots growing round, it still retained its shape 

 and consistency when torn out. 



The inner cup w;is very tiny, only I '8 in. in diameter 

 and about 1 in. deep, but the outer diameter and depth 

 were, roughly speaking, about (J by I inches respectively! 



The nest contained four eggs, rather hard-set. This was 

 on the 20th of April. 



In 11)0 1 we round only one oilier nest, although men were 



specially set to hunt for them for days together; they are 

 most terribly hard nests to find. 



This year (1905) I have procured six more nests: two of 

 which, taken by Mr. II. Stevens at the foot ol' the Dafla 

 Hills, were found in the roots of ekra. 



The other four were taken by myself and my men. Two 

 were found in places just like that first described, except that 



they were situated in the grass-plains themselves and not ill 

 openings. The remaining two were taken from holes in 



banks. One was placed in a hole in a sandy bank, forming 

 the side of a rough pit from which soil had been taken to 

 make a roud . The bank was covered with very coarse, short 

 grass, but except for a few scattered bushes the surround- 

 ing country was quite open — in fact, grazed down to within 



a few inches by numerous cattle. The pit itself was more 

 or less overgrown with coarser grass, as the cattle could not 

 convenient ly graze t here. 



The last, nest was taken from a. hole in the bank of a so- 

 called road. All over this part of the road the grass was 



some inches high and extremely dense : on one side the ground 



sloped upwards and formed a shelving bank whee the grass 

 was longer, and there were many weeds and small bushes. 

 Amongst the graSS-roOtS was a small natural hollow, and in 

 this the nest had been placed and was discovered by the bird 

 ll\ nil: out as we pa-seil. 



Judging by the actions of the birds, I think more breed 



inside ck ra-j nnule than elsewhere ; but in such places it is 



long odds againsl finding the nest, although the bird i.s 

 extremely common during the breeding-season in certain 



