i't)6 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL JUST. SOCJETY, Vol. XXI. 



forest. The attack of the eagle was extremely sudden; I became aware of 

 it by hearmg a crash in the tree I had been watching and then hearing some 

 large bird flapping its wings and free itself from the branches. This struggle 

 was only momentary, and the eagle flew off heavily with a pigeon in its 

 talons. It perched but a short-way oft' and I fired at it, never hoping how- 

 ever I was obtaining such a rare specimen. This bird has never, I believe, 

 been recorded from Burma before. I only slightly wounded it, andl found 

 it very troublesome extricating it from some very thick undergrowth into 

 which it had fallen. It was very ferocious and, of course, catching it by the 

 hand was out of the question. The Karen who was with me would not go 

 near it. However in time, mana3uvring with a long stick, I managed and got 

 it under control, so as I could kill it without injuring the skin, which I have 

 preserved and will forward it to you, with some other skins I collected at 

 Thandoung for our museum as soon as the rains are over. 



Another interesting fact to record is that 



Tickell's Staphidia (Staphidia strata) No. 218, F. B. I., was found to be 

 quite common at Thandoung. Very little seems to have been known about 

 this bird at the time Gates described it. I did not realize how common it 

 was, as it does not make itself at all conspicuous, and might be easily passed 

 over for some other bird until a friend, Mr. Justice Eobinson, who was with 

 me in Thandoung collecting eggs, and myself had found about a dozen nests. 

 Bobinson did not know the species to which the nest belonged, but thought 

 it was Tickell's Staphidia and set all doubt at rest by shooting 

 a parent bird, and I later caught a bird in my landing net on her 

 nest. 



I learnt afterwards that I had not noticed the bird Tickell's Staphidia 

 itself, as I had passed it over thinking it- was a Tit or Flower-pecker. It 

 has very much the same habits, going about in small parties and hunting 

 amongst the leaves and branches for insects and keeping up a continual 

 twittering. 



This species in Thandoung invariably chose for its nesting place the 

 banks of paths cut through the jungle, or in one instance I found a nest 

 about 4 feet from the ground in a hole on the face of deep road cutting. 

 The nests are usually cunningly concealed, though at times very con- 

 spicuous ; generally we found them partially concealed behind a clod or 

 tuft of moss or grass and built into any hole or shelf in the bank, but 

 usually these holes near the top of a bank were chosen, so that the over- 

 hanging moss clods, etc., partially concealed it. 



The nest is rather massive for such a small bird, being thickly walled 

 with moss and rather loosely packed. The inside is a neat cup, lined with 

 very fine grasses and their black stalks so very thin that they have 

 the appearance of horse hair, obtained, I fancy, from the smaller clued 

 ferns. 



