LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 467 



a fortnight the breeding ground extended some 1^ miles in 

 length by about ^ a mile broad, and contained the following 

 species : Ardea cinerea, A. purpurea, A. torra, A. intermedia, 

 A. garzetta, Buphus coromandus, Nyctiardea nycticorax, Anas- 

 tomus oscitans, Ibis melanocep/ialus, Phalacrocorax fuscicolUs, P. 

 melanognathus and Plotus melanog aster. 



Each of the different species were more or less separate, and 

 the three Egrets, A. torra, A. intermedia and A. garzetta, though 

 apparently all mixed up together, were still, as far as my 

 observations went, distinct. I noticed not only in this particular 

 ground, but in others also, that A. garzetta 's nests were all hud- 

 dled close together but on the lowest branches, A. intermedia' 's 

 nests were also close together, but were above those of garzetta, 

 while torra's nests were on the topmost branches. Several 

 colonies which I watched from a distance peering round the 

 trunk of a tree with nothing but my head above water, exhibited 

 this arrangement in a marked manner, the birds being seen in 

 three tiers. Of course I do not mean that there were no excep- 

 tions to this rule, but it was the general way in which the 

 nests were arranged. 



P. melanognathus and B. coromandus were the only birds 

 which seemed to build anywhere and everywhere, their nests 

 being more or less scattered all ever the ground. 



I have not entered the Spoonbill, but the fishermen tell 

 me it breeds there in October, and I noticed the other day that 

 they were just coming in together with Tantalus leucocephalus. 

 — Yours truly, S. DoiG. 



Sir, — Allow me to correct a serious mistake which occurs at 

 p. 150 of" S. F.," Vol. VII. The eggs and specimens referred 

 to of Myiophoneus horsfieldi were obtained at Purandhur, a hill 

 sanitarium about 15 miles south of Poonah, and not as was ori- 

 ginally stated Poorbander, in Kattiawar. 



E. A. Butler, 

 Hyderabad, Capt., tidrd Regt. 



12th November 1878. 



Sir, — At page 112 (ante) I said that I obtained at the Man- 

 chur " H. albicilla and eggs." I did not get the eggs of the 

 European White-tailed Fish Eagle. I should have written 

 u H. albicilla and H. macei and eggs." 



Please notify this correction in your next issue. 



J. A. Murray. 



KURRACHEE, 



November 1878. 



