224 NOTES UPON A COLLECTION OF BIRDS MADE 



dilatation is larger than that of the female, and has three 

 distinct cuts on the inner edge more than - 2 '-oth of an inch deep. 



It would throw considerable light on the true position of Dro- 

 mas ardeola if its breeding habits could be accurately observed ; 

 Layard, I believe, found it nesting in Ceylon, but I am unable 

 to find his notes on the subject ; I think they are contained in 

 one of the numbers of the Journal* of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal, and demonstrate the egg to be quite plover-like in form. 

 Taking all points into consideration, it appears, then, that the 

 right position of this curious bird is among the sea shore plovers, 

 Uamatopodida, those aberrant characteristics which might be 

 deemed sufficient to separate it into a distinct family of its own 

 (Dromadidee, Bonaparte) coming next to the former, being the 

 peculiar form of head and neck, structure of bill and great 

 length of tarsus, together with its remarkable partially-webbed 

 feet. 



ftotw upon a rollttttoit at ffivbs mak bctfora Itooort 

 anb 6anjjaotri w Slag 1874. 



By W. Edwin Brooks, C.E. 



The following list does not include all the birds I saw during 

 my hurried trip.f Of many common species I took but little 

 note, and the total number of species to be found in the country 

 through which I passed will largely exceed the number that 

 I happened to come across. I scarcely halted any where to 

 explore the surrounding country. Derali was the only place 

 where I halted for two or three days, to see what the fine pine 

 woods near the snows contained. 



The valley of the Bhagiruttee may once have been a very 

 beautiful one, but owing to wholesale wood-cutting operations 

 it is now a distressing sight to see almost any part of it. 



* The notice is in Sir W. Jardine's contributions to Ornithology. The egg itself 

 though in a very dilapidated condition, is still in the Museum of the Asiatic Society 

 of Bengal. 



It is a broad oval, somewhat compressed towards the small end, exactly the same 

 shape as eggs of JSsacus recurvirostris and magnirostris and (Edienemus crepitans. 



The egg measures 2 inches by l - 4. 



In color, it is a warm drab color or cafe an lait, pretty thickly blotched, streaked, 

 and spotted with deep blackish brown. 



I have seen many eggs of (E. crepitans perfect counterparts of this egg, and it is by 

 no means certain that this egg did belong to D. ardeola. Layard only considered that 

 he had good grounds for believing that it did, while Blyth considered that it could 

 not well have belonged to any other species. — Ed., S. F. 



f I have prepared a rough sketch map to illustrate Mr. Brooks' paper, but of 

 many of the places mentioned I have been quite unable to ascertain the correct 

 elevation. I take, at the request of numerous subscribers, this opportunity of re-pub- 

 lishing as notes to this paper, Mr. Brooks' original descriptions of several Western 

 Himalayan species which are not included in Dr. Jerdon's work, and have not yet been 

 noticed in Stbat Feathers. — Ed. 



