MISCELLANi:OUb NOTES. 275 



A Goose was obtained out of a large gaggle near Handoi. It was prac- 

 tically black with a speckled breast, small in size, but bigger than and 

 essentially different from a Sukta. No one was able to name it. 



M. A. GUDLESTONE, Captain, 



41st Dogras. 

 Cawnpore, 10th April 1911. 



No. XXXVIII.— NIDIFIOATION OF THE LITTLE GREBE OR 

 DABCHICK {PODICEPS ALBIFENNIS). 



For the past two years I have been watching several birds of the above 

 species on the marshy ponds between Grant Road and Mahalakshmi 

 stations of the B. B. & C. I. Railway, particularly with regard to their 

 breeding habits as they appeared to be building all through the year. 



Prom the several books I have on Ornithology it appears that ordinarily 

 May to September are the months in which nests should be found ; but I 

 have taken three nests outside these months at very wide 'dates. Hume 

 says it breeds at very different seasons according to locality. The earliest 

 dates I find recorded are in Hume's " Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds " in 

 which Mr. W. Theobald remarks : " Lays in the second week of May " — this 

 was in the valley of Cashmere. In the same work Mr. Davison says it 

 breeds on the Ootacamund Lake in May. The latest date recorded is by 

 Mr. H. Wenden who, on 26th October at Goolburga Fort, found a nest 

 containing five eggs. 



I took a nest with five eggs on the 81st March, two of which had not 

 been long laid, as they were lighter than the others which were the usual 

 smoky brown. I took another on the 16th November containing four very 

 fresh eggs, the last of which could only have been laid just prior to my 

 taking the nest as it was white with a faint bluish-green tinge. But to my 

 surprise I noticed a pair of birds building in December last, and decided 

 I would wait till the last day of the month before I took the nest which I 

 did, and found three much incubated eggs. The nests were of the usual 

 kind — no construction — merely masses of decomposed weeds apparently 

 resting or attached to some water-grass, and had a very offensive odour. 



Hume says : " I doubt whether the birds sit much during the day " 



I almost invariably found the old bird sitting, and when approaching the 

 nest it was interesting to watch the bird cover up the eggs with that 

 marvellous dexterity, for which the species of this genus are noted, and 

 then quietly slip away and disappear into the water, but as I once noticed, 

 watched what my coolie was doing with its head just above the surface as 

 a snake's would be. 



JOHN FRY. 



Mahim Bombay, llth April 1911. 



