190 MY LAST NOTES ON THE AVIFAUNA OF SIND. 



plan answered admirably, the moment a crow descended in 

 future a well directed egg or two quickly caused him to retreat, 

 and in a very short time they got tired of following us about 

 and took their departure. 



The Egrets and Herons seemed to breed together promis- 

 cuously, though sometimes we found nests of both the Purple 

 and Blue Herons, in small detached groups ; while the Snake 

 Birds, Cormorants, White Ibises, and Night Herons built 

 amongst the others, but in separate colonies. 



The "White Ibises, of which there were about a dozen pairs, had 

 all built together on a tree that had been partly blown down, 

 and the nests which looked exactly like the nests of Herodias 

 intermedia or H. garzetta, were only about one or two feet apart. 

 Eggs had been taken from these nests for us the week previous, 

 but the birds had all laid again, as we found fresh eggs in 

 every nest, but one, which had young ones in it. Most of the 

 eggs were plain, but some were conspicuously spotted with 

 yellowish brown. 



The Night Herons, as usual, had selected one of the densest 

 parts of the thicket to build in, where, for variety, a few large 

 clumps of tallbulrushes were growing amongst the u jhow " trees. 

 In these clumps, and in the trees adjoining their nests, which 

 were precisely similar to the Egrets ' nests, were built, but un- 

 fortunately they were still building, and so we got very few eggs.* 



The Shell Ibises, some twenty pairs in all, had built in another 

 part of the thicket, but as they had not laid,* and as it was some 

 200 or 300 yards further on, we did not visit the place our- 

 selves ; however we saw the old birds soaring round and round 

 in the air over the nests. 



As regards the Cormorants, we certainly saw two species 

 breeding, Phalacrocoraw fuscieollis and P. melanognalkus, but 

 the natives, whom we found very reliable, as a rule, say that 

 another species, intermediate between Phalacrocoraw carbo and 

 P. fuscieollis, breeds there also, and that it has a patch of white 

 feathers on each side of the head. Whether this really is 

 another species, or whether it is the male of P. fuscieollis, 1 am 

 not yet in a position to decide. 



After spending about 4| hours, up to our shoulders, in the 

 water, and having collected as many eggs as we wanted, and 

 seen all that was to be seen, as it was a blazing hot day, we 

 waded back to the boat and returned home for breakfast. 



The whole of the nests referred to above were built at 

 heights varying from three feet to ten or twelve feet above the 

 level of the water. 



* Subsequently, about a week later, our men returned to the swamp and brought 

 us any number of. Night Heron's and Shell Ibis's eggs. 



