374 Notes on the Birds of the Samhhur Lake 8f its viciniti/. 



brown with white bands. About the vent there are a number of 

 white feathers. The koel has visited Sambhur during ray re- 

 sidence only once or twice, and that during the rains. 



217. — Centropus rufipennis, IlUger. 



Very rare. I have never seen the common coucal anywhere 

 about this, but last December a specimen was shot in ray garden. 



Female, length, 31 "3; expanse 23"3,- wing, 8; tail from vent, 

 12*4; tarsus, 2*1 ; bill at front, along curve, 1*7 > irides, red. 



220. — Taccocua sirkee, Gray. 



Very rare. I have only once seen a pair in a patch of jungle 

 near Marot. Both were feeding on the ground when I shot 

 them. 



Male, length, 17'5 ; wing, 6*5; tarsus, 1'7; tail from vent, 

 10"4: bill at front, along curve, 1*3. 



Female, length, 17"25j expanse, 19; wing, 6*4; tail, ]0'5; 

 tarsus 1"5; bill at front, along curve, 1*5 ; bill, blood red; the 

 tip of the upper and lower mandible, horny white. The whole 

 of the tail feathers obsoletely barred. 



234.— Arachnechthra asiatica, L. 



The purple honey-sucker is very common about Sambhur; it 

 breeds during the month of April and np to June. On tlie 

 morning of the 18th April, I saw a female apparently in a great 

 state of excitement over a piece of cobweb in a tree, and 1 

 succeeded in lining it like a bee, until I found the beginning 

 of a new nest on a babool tree, about 15 feet from the iiiound. 

 On the 19th it had the upper portion of the nest well formed, 

 on the 20th the nest was well blocked out, but had no inner 

 lining. From the 21st to the 24th the bird was occupied in. 

 ornamenting the outside of the nest with all sorts of stray feathers 

 and other odds and ends. 



During these days it also filled in the inner lining. It is curious 

 how fond these birds are of tacking on pieces of paper, and here 

 and there a bright-colored feather from a parrot, or a roller 

 on the outside of their nests. When in Agra a bird of this 

 species built a nest on a loose piece of thatch cord in ray 

 verandah, and on the side of the nest, stuck on like a signboard, 

 was a piece of a torn up letter with " My dear Adam" on it. 



On the 26th I found the bird sitting on the nest, and I 

 presume it had eggs, but I did not care to disturb it, and on the 

 27th for the first time I saw the male bird near the nest. All 

 through the time of construction, so far as ray observation went, 

 he never assisted the female in the slightest degree. Now he 

 seemed exceedingly happy, fluttered every now and then about 

 the nest, and after each careful inspection he was so seemingly 



