OOLOGY, WITH NOTES ON THE BIRDS. 353 



of only 3,000 feet I again encountered a pair of these birds, 

 finding their nest on the banks of the Surjoo. The position, 

 shape, and architecture of this nest were identical with the one 

 I have above described, but the eggs unfortunately had not 

 been laid. The little birds, on this occasion, were quite fearless, 

 hopping from stem to stem of the dense undergrowth which 

 throughout the Bagesur valley fringes both banks of the river, 

 every now and again making a temporary halt for the purpose 

 of picking insects off the leaves, with an occasional "tchick" 

 which Hutton resembles to the "sound emitted by a flint and 

 steel," but all the time enticing me away from the site of their 

 dwelling place. In this way they led me a wild-goose chase 

 several times up and down the river-bank before I was able to 

 discover the whereabouts of their nest. 



596.— Anthus maculatus, Hodgson. 



Pushing on as quickly as possible for the region of the snows, 

 I arrived at Dhakuri Benaik, which is at an elevation of nearly 

 11,000 feet, on the 15th May. This was reputed to be almost a 

 sure find for Woodcocks, and it was marked off in my chart 

 as one of the chief places to be visited. Great, however, was 

 my grief when I was obliged to quit the place without ever 

 flushing a bird, notwithstanding that I employed an additional 

 staff of coolies, and offered most tempting rewards for even the 

 sight of one.* 



But though I had here to take temporary leave of the Wood- 

 cocks, I did not leave Dhakuri empty-handed, for the very last 

 piece of cover I drew, out flew a Pipit from a tussock of long 

 grass, under the shelter of which was placed the nest which 

 contained four hard-sett very black-looking eggs of the much 

 disputed (by European Ornithologists I should add) Indian or 

 Green-backed Pipit, Anthus maculatus. The nest was deeply 

 placed in the damp, almost wet, ground; and it was a large 

 massive structure of green moss, lined internally with fine 

 grass stems. The bird, during the time I was engaged in 

 examining the nest and eggs, stood motionless on the grassy 



* I may mention that Mr. Buck, C. S., met with the Woodcock and Solitary Snipe 

 at this very place a few years ago ; their absence from such fine ground as I went over 

 is probably attributable to the constant heavy rain which occurred during the whole 

 period I was in the interior. Captain (now Colonel) Irby, in his paper on the birds of 

 " Oudh and Kumaon" (Ibis for 1861.) says the Woodcock is common in Kumaon" 

 I should like to know if Captain Irby recorded this statement from personal experience, 

 or on merely hearsay evidence. It is very strange that during my two months' 

 sojourn in the interior, and I devoted my utmost euergies to the acquisition of this 

 bird, I should have come across only one solitary example. 



[The Woodcock is very common in the lower valleys of Kumaon during the cold 

 season. In the Lat-ka-panee, below Almora, I shot three one morning (17th Novem- 

 ber) and I have known as many as six shot in a morning below Lohughat. — Ed.] 



f These eggs were on the point of hatching, but I saved them by means of carbolic 

 acid. It may not be generally known that small eggs can be preserved in this way by 

 making a largish hole and inserting pieces of cotton wool tightly rolled into small 

 pills well saturated with the acid; they should thus lie stuffed /<> the utmost, and then 

 allowed to dry. Eggs prepared in this way, i.e., when they are too far incubated to 

 admit of being blown, never gu bad. 



