453 



Uotej? on t|e pMficnttou of some gnnnese §tih. 



By W. Davison. 



Though not endowed by nature with the peculiar gift for 

 nest-finding that some people possess, still I have, during- the 

 four years I have been collecting birds in the Tenasserim Pro- 

 vince for Mr. Hume, come across the nests of a good many 

 birds, though I have never devoted any time specially to this 

 object, and consequently I have but few species to notice. 



Some of the nests, to which I propose to refer, do not appear 

 to have been before obtained; others have already been de- 

 scribed by Mr. Oates or Captain Bingham, and I notice them 

 only because my observations do not quite correspond with 

 theirs'. 



56 ter.— Milvus affinis, Gould. 



I obtained two eggs of this Kite at Moulmein on the 5th of 

 January of this year. In appearance they are quite similar 

 to many of those of M. govinda ; and, as is not unfrequently 

 the ease with Kites' eggs, though both were taken from the 

 same nest, they are very dissimilar in appearance — one being 

 blotched and spotted, but only at the large end, with a dark um- 

 ber brown, some of the spots and blotches being almost black ; 

 the rest of the egg is sparsely spotted and blotched (but the 

 blotches are small) with a paler brown. The markings on the 

 other egg, which are also at the large end, consist of a medley 

 of streaks and scratches and irregular spots of a rusty brown, 

 the whole of the remainder of the surface being covered with 

 numerous scratches of a very pale inky purple, and a few very 

 faint spots of a pale rusty brown. These two eggs measure 

 2-11 by 1-71 and 208 by 17. 



The nest, the usual shallow saucer of dry twigs, &c., was 

 placed in a moderately high tree, about 30 feet from the 

 ground. 



114. — Caprimulgus monticolus, Frankl. 



On the 10th of March 1875, at Yeaboo on the Attaran, I shot 

 a female of this species off two eggs. The eggs were laid on 

 the bare ground in a slight depression at the foot of a tree. 

 The tract of jungle in which these eggs were taken was very 

 dry and thin, being composed of moderate-sized deciduous 

 leaved trees, interspersed with thorny bamboos and brambly 

 shrubs, with little or no undergrowth. 



* u The eggs are somewhat elongated but very perfect ovals, 

 very obtuse at both ends. The shell is fine, and they have a 



* I transcribe this and other descriptions with the author's permission, from the new 

 MSS. Edition of Mr. Hume's "JSeste and Eggs," 



