46 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXL 



constant lying on this maj^ have formed it into a hollow cup. 

 They select, or themselves make this depression, either in standing 

 crops of grain or mustard or under shelter of a bush or patch of 

 grass in an open plain and the hen sits very close when once 

 incubation has begun. 



Col. Verner thus describes the nests of the Little Bustard: " Few 

 nests are more difficult to find than the Little Bustards', especially 

 when they are amid the rank herbage on the fallow lands or the 

 asphodel, when they are as well concealed as a J^artridge's or 

 Quail's. They are almost equally baffling when on the plains 

 amongst the thousands of acres of waving reeds, 2 ft. or 3 ft. in 

 height, which permit of the old bird running for an indefinite 

 distance from the nest before taking wing. The same remark 

 applies to those placed amongst the standing corn." 



" The nest varies much in its size and construction, being at 

 times a well compacted mass of dried grasses and herbage and in 

 others little more than a chance collection of debris. Where a 

 nest is well concealed, the female will sit very close and not betray 

 its sitiiation until almost trodden upon, whereas in more exposed 

 situations she usually slips off and, crouching, runs some distance 

 before taking wing," 



" The nest here shewn was amidst a dense growth of coarse 

 herbage, in which ox-eye daisies and dandelions predominated. 

 The bird only left when I was within 2 ft. of her and in her scuffle 

 and alarm drove a claw through one of the eggs. To get a photo- 

 graph of this nest, we had to clear away much of the surrounding 

 herbage. The nest was only a slight depression measuring 8 

 in. across and was lined with grasses and herbs pressed down 

 around it." 



" The day I found this nest with two eggs was dull and wet with 



heavy gusts of wind It was 18th May and, a few hours 



later on the very same day I came across a second nest about three 

 miles from the first one. It would be hard to imagine a greater 

 contrast than it presented, for it was on a bare and open hill-side, 

 fallow ground with practicallj^ no cover on it save that afibrded 

 by some scattered patches of rank herbage. The nest was con- 

 structed in one of these patches and was quite open to view to any 



