596 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



merely on the word of the orderly who clmibed the tree ; in my experience 

 it is not every climber who can with certainty distinguish the eggs of the 

 two species when in the nest. 



Ambala City, 



5th Februavy 1916. 



HUGH WHISTLER, M.B.o.r., 

 Indian Police 



No XII.— BUZZARD {BTlTEO DESERTORUM) AND SHRIKE 



{LANIUS, Sp.) 



As I was riding along a road in Ajmer, a Buzzard swooped down (probably 

 out of a tree) just in front of my horse and seized a Shrike at the side of the 

 road. A crowd of crows and seven sisters gathered round, clamorous with 

 indignation, but the Buzzard eyed them very coolly for a minvite or so and 

 then flew up into a tree to devour its prey. It allowed me to watch from 

 ten or twelve yards distance. It took some pains to get rid of the longer 

 feathers but otherwise devoured the whole of its prey including the head 

 and feet. The whole process took twenty minutes. The Shrike's body was 

 balled up in the Buzzard's talons and I could not distinguish the species, but 

 the broad black band like a burglar's mask, across the face was clearly 

 visible and left no doubt that the victim was a Shrike. And this to me was 

 the interesting point, for, from the conspicuous colouring of Shrikes and the 



