Notes on the Birds of the Samhhur Lake ^ its vicinity. cSSS 



^ 581.— Sylvia Jerdoni, JBlyth. 



I have only met witli this species once;, and then I shot one 

 of a pair which were hunting for insects in low scrub jungle. 

 Irides, pale greenish-yellow. 



y^ 582.— Sylvia affinis, Blyth. 



Very common during the cold season. It is generally to be 

 found working for insects on keggera or babool trees. 



589.— Motacilla maderaspatana, Gm. 



The pied wagtail is very common about all the open wells 

 and tanks. They build during April and May. Although 1 

 had been looking out for the nest of this bird for some time, 

 the first I found was on the morning of the 18th April. I 

 then noticed an adult catching a large dragon-fly, and as' it did 

 not proceed at once to devour it, 1 thought that it might 

 be for its young. After flirting about for fully five minutes 

 with the fly in its bill, it popped into a hole at the very water 

 level of a tank near to my house and immediately re-appeared 

 without the fly. On examining the hole, I found a nest con- 

 taining three full-fledged nestlings and one addled q^^. The 

 nest was a longish oval, about seven inches in length and four 

 in breadth ; in thickness it was about two inches. It was com- 

 posed of pieces of twine, cloth, fibres of plants, feathers, and 

 a large proportion of human hair. Eound the outer edge there 

 was a rim formed, I presume, to keep the young in the nest. 

 The ^^^ receptacle was quite flat, and lined with a few feathers, 

 horse-hair, wool, and fibres firmly matted together. On the 1st 

 May, I observed another bird building, and found its nest in a 

 hole in the bank of an open well. The nest had just been 

 commenced; on the 3rd it was finished, and on the 7th it 

 contained two eggs, which I took with the nest. Another bird 

 I watched finished its nest on the 7th May, and on the 9th, 10th, 

 11th, and 12th it laid an egg each day. The eggs are dirty 

 white in color, much speckled and spotted with pale-brown and 

 dusky; at the broad end the spots are massed together, while in 

 one &^^ they form a zone. 



591. — Motacilla personata, Gould. . 



Common. 



591 Us. — Motacilla dukhunensis, ^yhes. 



Very common during the cold weather. » y, 



-/— 592. — Calobates boarula, Femi. - ^ v^. c^^ vx-^T^ 



Common. 



