532 JOURNAL, BOMB A Y NA TURAL HISTORY SOCIETY , Vol. XVII. 



My collector having told me a few days ago that he had come across two 

 nests of Baza lophotes being built, I went yesterday to the nearest one reported 

 (quite six miles distant) in order to see that my man was not mistaken in the 

 identity of the birds, though I had little doubt on this score as I had pre- 

 viously paid him Re. 1 for each specimen of this species he brought in, and a 

 Sonthal does not often make mistakes when money is to be had. 



The nest was situated in a Sal tree at the side of the Government road run- 

 ning through the Forest (this is not a road that carries much traffic at any 

 time of the year, less so now when heavy rains are on), at a height of about 

 25 feet or 30 feet from the ground resting on two smallish branches growing 

 close to the trunk, in fact one side resting against the trunk. The nest from 

 below looked like a small edition of the Common Kite's, being far from tidy, 

 and the boy who went up said it was lined with leaves (?). The female bird did 

 not stir until the boy was about four feet below the nest when she flaw into 

 an adjacent tree, to which on ascertaining there were three eggs I followed her, 

 I had with me only a Winchester Saloon rifle. At first the bird would not let 

 me get near bub kept flying from tree to tree and back again towards the 

 nest, in fact even making one or two very feeble half-hearted swoops at the 

 boy who was coming down. Her cries, which were somewhat kite-like, soon 

 brought the male on the scene, and as the female now settled on a high thinly 

 foliaged tree, some 60 yards off, she gave me the opportunity of a longish shot 

 and I dropped her, but the bird most unfortunately, or rather as it afterwards 

 proved fortunately, got caught up by its wing and remained hanging high 

 up and quite out of reach. Iu a short time the male came to the same tree, 

 under which in the meantime I bad concealed myself in the undergrowth, 

 seeing the plight of its mate it soon flew down to the branch on which 

 it hung comparatively close to where I stood, and he, needless to say, was 

 promptly bagged A second shot at the dead bird luckily caused it to drop as 

 well and so I succeeded in securing the pair of these rather uncommon birds 

 and their eggs. 



The crest of this bird when excited stands quite erect and thrown decidedly 

 forward, a most conspicuous feature when the bird is perched on a bare 

 branch. The crops of these two birds were full of grass-hoppers and the 

 remains of a br ghtly colored cicada with red underwings found in this 

 forest, so it is evident they must at times feed on insects, though, if my 

 memory serves me right, I believe I have also seen a small lizard taken from 

 the crop of one of my specimens. The eggs are of the type that have already 

 more than once been described in the Journal; mine are much stained with 

 yellow, probably fr >m the lining of the nest, if it was of leaves as the boy said. 



As the other nest is a long way inside the forest I am sending my man to 

 take it. 



A. M. PRIMROSE. 



MuRNAI, T. E., TAMARHAT P. 0. GaTTRIPUR, ASSAM, 



Wth June 1906. 



