284 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII, 
in readiness below the nest. The branch with the nest on it was afterwards 
broken off. The egg is very faint greyish white, elliptical in shape, and measures 
9” in length. 
I am indebted for the photograph to Mr. C. E. C. Cox of the Imperial 
Forest Service. 
B. B. OSMASTON, 1.F.s. 
PacuMARHI, July 1921. 
No. XX.—BREEDING OF THE INDIAN PITTA. 
Oates at page 285, Vol. II, of his ‘‘ Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds ” says 
of the Indian Pitta (Pitta brachyura). “They also (i.e., besides in Central 
India) breed, I know, (though I could never find the nests) in the Dun......... i 
I write to say that His Highness the Nawab of Bahwalpur on the 26th June 
found the Indian Pitta’s nest at a place about half way between the top of the 
Mohand Pass in the Siwaliks and the foot of the Range on the Saharanpur side 
near Dehra Dun. The nest was of the usual type described in the books, about 
12 feet up in a tree. The eggs were four in number and the only two which it 
was possible to recover unbroken, as well as one of the broken ones, were perfectly 
fresh. Mr. C. H. Donald in Miscellaneous Notes No. VI of Vol. XV, No. 3, 
recorded the finding of a nest of this species with five young in the Kangra. 
District on the 15th June 1917. 
R. C. BOLSTER, I.c.s. 
TrpPeRAH Hovusz, DrHRa Dun, 
28th June 1921. 
No, XXI—THE CALL OF FRANKLIN’S NIGHTJAR (CAPRIMULGUS 
MONTICOLA) FRANKL. 
When writing on the Nightjars of the Punjab I stated (Journal, B.N.H.S, 
xxvil, p. 369) that I had never heard the call of Franklin’s Nightjar but that it 
was said to be similar to that of C. asiaticus asiaticus. While on tour 
about the middle of this month at the western end of the Kangra Valley I found 
this Nightjar very abundant in the foothills from Damtal on the Chakki River 
to Kotli, at heights varying from 1,200—2,500 feet above sea level. It spends 
the days in seclusien in the light forest and scrub jungle which covers these 
hills and at dusk comes out to fly about over cultivation and the stony and 
sandy beds of the torrent nalas. The call which is uttered both at rest and 
over the wing may be heard all night long, before dark, and even after dawn : in 
the distance it sounds like a loud grating chirp, which closer at hand resolves 
itself almost exactly into the sound of a whiplash cutting through the air. 
It is very distinctive and once heard cannot be mistaken. 
DHARMSALA, HUGH WHISTLER, F.z.s., 
21st April 1921. Indian Police. 
No. XXII.-—NIDIFICATION OF THE BLACK VULTURE OR INDIAN 
KING VULTURE (OTOGYPS CALVUS). 
Early in May near Mandvi, Cutch, I found a nest of this bird on a small thorny” 
tree barely ten feet from the ground. There was a half fledged young one in it. 
I took a photograph of the young one in the nest and my wife took one of 
me taking the photograph. 
