MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 359 



No. XII.— A FURTHER NOTE ON THE BREEDING OF THE 

 HOBBY {FALCO SUBBUTEO) NEAR SIMLA, N. W. HIMALAYAS. 



Last year I recorded finding a nest of this species containing three 

 young (J.B.N.H.S., Volume XXIII, pages 579-581). On June the 27th 

 of this year I again found them in the same locality. Soon after first sight- 

 ing them one disappeared through the trees and I carefully noted the 

 direction. On approaching the spot I found the nest and put the male off. 

 Sending my climber up he announced three eggs so I shot this bird. The 

 female approached but gave no chance of a shot. Telling the man to bring 

 the nest and eggs down, I tried to stalk the female but she was too wary 

 and flew away down the khud. 



The nest was on the outskirts of a deodar forest placed 65 feet up a 

 deodar (Cedrus deodara) at an elevation of 6,000 feet. The nest was un- 

 doubtedly built by CTOws {C. macrorhynchus) but the hobbies had added a 

 " fence" of thorny twigs round the brim. The lining was fine rootlets, hair, 

 grass and small pieces of twine. A few of the hobbies' feathers adhered 

 to the nest. The eggs were slightly incubated. Two eggs are of a dull 

 salmon-pink ground, evenly and finely speckled with liver red and some 

 blotches of the same shade sparsely distributed over the surface. The 

 . third egg is a uniform bright brick red with a few indistinct blotches of a 

 deeper shade collected at the larger end. 



The gizzard of the male contained portions of a bird. 



A. E. JONES. 

 Simla, September 1915. 



No. XIII.— NOTES ON CUCKOOS IN MAYMYO. 



The hill-station of Maymyo is situated on an undulating, forest-clad, 

 plateau at an elevation of about 3,500 feet above sea level. The forest 

 growth consists largely of oaks and chestnuts and a good deal of it is 

 second growth jungle. 



The parasitic cuckoos are particularly well represented and obtrusive, 

 especially in the neighbourhood of the station. 



There are five common species and one less common. In addition to 

 these, two other species were observed on one or two occasions only, so they 

 were probably only stragglers. 



1. Cuculus canorus. — The Cuckoo. This well-known English bird is very 

 common round Maymyo, where it may be heard calling from the third week 

 in March to the middle of June. They seem to deposit their eggs chiefly 

 in the nests of Anthus rufulus (the Indian Pipit) and Pratincola caprata (the 

 Pied Bush-chat), both very common in Maymyo. 



I found three eggs this season which I attribute to this cuckoo. 



The first was found in my garden on May 3rd in the nest of the Pied 

 Bush-chat, together with four eggs of the latter, all quite fresh. 



This egg is ovo-elliptical in shape, with no gloss, and in colour a pale 

 starling blue, almost unspotted, but on close examination a few very faint 

 spots can be made out. It measures 0*96"xO"70". In spite of the colour 

 I believe this egg to belong to C. canorus which was frequently to be seen 

 and heard in my garden. 



The only other cuckoo, viz., C. micropterus, to which it might be thought 

 to belong, must be ruled out, as it is practically non-existent in Maymyo. 



The second egg, quite a difi'erent type, was found on May 4th in a nest 

 of Megalurus palustris (the Striated Marsh Warbler) with two eggs of the 

 latter, all hard set. It is oval in shape, very slightly glossy and measures 



