MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 243 



slowly covering up their dung by kicking leaves and earth over it with the hind 

 feet ; if disturbed in this and driven away, they will return rind finish th« 

 operation. The only vocal sound they make is a very shrill squeak which would 

 sound appropriate in a small sucking pig but in nothing larger. 



When in the act of copulation, which takes place in the daytime in the water, 

 the female gives off a series of these squeaks, while the male blows through the 

 snout, making staccato puffs like the noise of the escape of an oil engine. 



The tapir is herbiverous, but in captivity is remarkably fond of boiled rice. 

 The ages of those in the Kolhapur collection are not known, but they show no 

 signs of decay. 



Photographs of the male tapir, and of the young at the age of two daj s 

 accompany this. 



W. B. FERRIS, Colonel. 



Kolhapur, 27ih December 1905. 



No. XXIII.- -NOTES ON THE OCCURRENCE OF CERTAIN BIRDS 

 IN THE PLAINS OF N.-W. INDIA. 



The following notes made this autumn on certain birds which, according to 

 Oates and Blanford in the " Fauna of India, Bird*," are rare or unknown in 

 these parts, may be of interest : — 



1. Bound Baical Pindi. — In the park I came across a Crested Serpent- 

 Eagle (1217. Spilornis cheela) in full plumage. It was perched in a tree over- 

 hanging a small reedy pond. 



The Dusky Horned Owl (1169. Bubo coromandus) too, occurs there, and 

 several pairs of them apparently. One can hear its curious call most evenings. 



I saw a Caspian Tern (1498. Uydroprogne caspia) in immature plumage by 

 the Sohan river. 



2. Salt Range. — During a few days' leave (December 11th to 15th) in and 

 about the Salt Range I came across the Black-crowned Finch-Lark (880. 

 P jirrhulauda melanauchen) four miles north of Lilla (Pind Dadan Khan Tahsil, 

 Jhelum District). Oates says of this bird, " has been obtained at Muttra, just 

 within the limits of the Punjab." There were a good many about feeding in 

 the fields, &c. 



Next day on the top of the plateau north of Sardi, I noticed a flock of 

 strange finches and shot one ; it turned out to be an Eastern Linnet (769. Acau- 

 this fringiUirostris). The Clack-throated Accentor (716. Tharrhaleus atrigularis) 

 is a common bird up there just like the hedge sparrow in habits, except 

 that it appears to be gregarious. On the way back below Sardi, I shot a £> 

 Red-mantled Rose-Finch (757. Propasser grandis). I again saw the Black- 

 crowned Finch Larks, and shot a male to make certain. 



On the march from Kohat to Rawal Pindi manoeuvres Lieut. Keen shot a 

 strange bird on a tank five miles east of Khushalgarh on the Indus ; he showed 

 it to me, and asked me to identify it. It was an Eared Grebe (1616. Podicipes 

 nir/ricolli*), an unmistakable bird. Blanford says of this species : " This 



