LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 415 



Gallinula plice7iicurus, p. 10, pi. ix. 

 J'antalus leucocephahcs, p. 11, pi. x. 

 Anser melanotus, p. 12, pi. xi. 

 Ahinga melanog aster, p. 13, pi. xiii. 

 Pa^e 14 ends with " Of the Bird of Paradise and the Phoenix," 

 and the catchwords are " these" and " Ces oiseaux." 



Should you think the foregoing worthy of a place in the pages 

 of your periodical, you are perfectly welcome to make that 

 use of it. 



Alfred Newton. 

 Magdalene College, Cambridge, 

 2bth June 1879. 



Sib, 



It may perhaps interest you or some of your readers 

 to know that Elanus cmruleiis (No. 59) bred here twice this season. 

 The bird used to be a rare one in the district, but since the 

 famine a very g-reat deal of land has returned to its pristine 

 condition, and this little Kite is now the commonest bird of 

 prey. In April, when I came back here, I found pairs all over 

 the district, several accompanied with young. I also found 

 several nests then with nearly full-fledged young. 



In June, the birds again commenced to build, and the eggs 

 appear to have been laid as a rule during the last week of tliat 

 month. I was unluckily detained in a place where there are no 

 Kites for the fortnight from June 28th to July 10th, but I have 

 seen at least 25 nests, mostly with young, almost all along the 

 sides of nullahs on small babool trees 15 feet or so from the 

 ground. The eggs or young were almost invariably four, and 

 the former varied much. One nest contained three highly- 

 coloured ones and a nearly pure white one which might have 

 passed for a miniature H. Indus. Another nest contained two 

 fresh eggs which were exactly like small eggs of A. nisus. 



J. Davidson. 



Sholapur District, 

 September 2nd, 1879. 



Sir, 



I wrote to Stray Feathers about the way E. cceru- 

 leus has invaded the district, and its breeding in the hot weather, 

 and again in the rains (June and July) ; but now I got a 

 nest yesterday (September 21st) with a fresh egg, evidently the 

 produce of a pair whose nest I knew, and whose young were 

 sitting on an adjoining tree barely able to take care of them- 

 selves. 



53 



