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



No. XIV.— CORMORANT {PHALACROCORAX CARBO) AND 

 FISHING EAGLE {HALIAETUS LEUCORYPHUS). 



I was watching a Cormorant fishing in a pool in the Ganges. The bird 

 came to the surface with a fish which looked like a young mahseer and must 

 have weighed over a pound. The fish was held by the nape, but I could not 

 see whether the grip was over the gills or behind them. The grip seemed 

 partially to paralyse the fish, for its body and tail were bent stiffly to one 

 side and its struggles were spasmodic and feeble. Nonetheless the Cor- 

 morant seemed unable to do more than hang on and wait till the fish became 

 exhausted. I was watching the struggle with great interest through a pair 

 of field glasses, wondering how it would terminate, when suddenly and much 

 to my sui-prise, I saw the Cormorant let go and both fish and bird disappear 

 beneath the surface. Lifting my eyes from the glasses I saw a Fishing Eagle 

 swinging round a few feet above the spot. It had evidently just failed to 

 catch the Cormorant napping. The Eagle veered off and settled on a ledge 

 of the clift' just above the pool. A second or two later the Cormorant emer- 

 ged at the foot of the clift and, climbing on to a half-submerged rock, began 

 peering round in all directions for signs of his enemy. Owing to a bulge in 

 the face of the clift' neither bird could see the other. After two or three 

 minutes the Eagle flew off downstream, but the Cormorant remained peering 

 about in evident anxiety for quite ten minutes before it found the courage 

 to leave the shelter of the cliff'. Jt then flew up stream and out of sight. 



G. B. F. MUIR, i.c.s. 



Mayo College, Ajmere, 



March 1916. 



No. XV.— TERNS HAWKING OVER GRAM FIELDS. 



For some days I have noticed many Terns both Hydrochelidon hybrida and 

 Sterna anglica hawking over the gram fields here. The only cause to which I 

 can attribute this is that this year, here at any rate, the Pusa white gram is 

 badly infected with what I take to be the gram caterpillar (C. obsoleta) 

 which enters the pods and eats the grain. Every now and then the Terns 

 swoop down to the gram and probably pick oft' the pests. 



Baghownie Fxy., CHAS. M. INGLIS. 



Lahina Sakai, 

 ■2nd April 1916. 



No. XVI.— GULLS FEEDING ON TERMITES. 



There are two species of small Gulls (not Terns) in the River Shatt-el-Arab. 



On the evening of 12th March I noticed a large assembly (perhaps 200) 

 of these birds circling about as one sees them over fish nets when drawn 

 ashore from the sea. It was not until I came quite close to them that I 

 discovered fish were not their objective, but termites, a nuptial flight of 

 which was rising from the river bank. 



F. WALL, C.M.Z.S., P.L.S., 



Lt.-Col., I. M.S. 



Basra, 



I3th March 1916. 



