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



No. XX.— NOTES ON A FEW DUOKS IN THE DHARBHANOA 

 DISTRICT, BEHAR. 



The Goosander {Merganser castor) appears to have been more plentiful 

 than usual this last cold weather. Three or four were obtained near here 

 in the Keray River, all drakes and I have heard of several others being got in 

 different parts of the district. A few Mallard [A. boscas) were also got here 

 both drakes and ducks, all were put out of rushes. While staying with a 

 friend of mine, Mr. H. E. Orowdy, a very keen naturalist and most obser- 

 vant man, we came across a large flock of Pintail {D. acuta) packed in a 

 small jheel. They were literally like sardines in a tin, so closely were they 

 packed. I fancy there must have been 500 or 1,000 probably nearer the 

 latter number. The flocks consisted of both ducks and drakes. They were 

 very wideawake and even though we stalked them with the aid of cattle we 

 were not able to get close enough for a good shot and only dropped eight 

 with our four barrels. 



We also came across quite a large flock of Brahminies (C rutila), about a 

 hundred I should think, all feeding together on the dry paddy land. 



We also fired at mixed flocks of the Indian Grey Lag Goose {A. i-icbriros- 

 tris) and Bar-headed geese {A. indicus) which were grazing in the dry 

 paddy lands. 



CHAS. M. INGLIS. 



Baghownie Fty, Laheria Saeai, 

 •2nd A2)ril 191(5. 



No. XXI.— unusual NESTING SITES. 



1 have frequently noticed the common Myna hopping in and out of old 

 Squirrel's dreys and old Crow's nests during the breeding season, and once 

 found an open Myna's nest with eggs in an old Crow's nest at Peshawar, it is 

 not however so often that one finds Squirrel's dreys tenanted by species 

 that usually breed in holes and so the two following cases may prove of 

 interest. 



When I was at Lyallpur (Punjab) at the end of January 1914, I noticed 

 that an old Squirrel's nest on a small Bombax tree in the compound seemed 

 to have a great attraction for a pair of Rose-ringed Paroquets (P. torquatus) 

 and so I set a watch on the movements of the Parrots. 



I noticed that the birds never left the tree for long and that one of them 

 (presumably the hen) was constantly in the nest, where through a pair of 

 glasses I could see her turning round and round in the way birds do when they 

 are shaping a nest. I saw her thus occupied on several different days, and 

 having eventually to leave the station I sent a man up the tree to fetch me 

 the nest, in the centre of which I found as I had expected that a deep cup 

 had been formed, in which I have no doubt that the birds would have laid 

 their eggs had they not been disturbed. For the benefit of the uninitiated 

 I would explain that Lyallpur is a comparatively new canal colony where 

 the bungalows are mostly newly built and do not offer facilities in the way 

 of holes for nesting sites (several Parrots prospected my bungalow for holes 

 in vain) and where the trees mostly consist of plantations of young shisham, 

 a hard wood remarkably devoid of holes and so birds that breed in holes 

 must be hard put to it to find suitable nesting sites there. 



The second instance of a bird which breeds in holes utilising a squirrel's 

 nest as a nesting site occurred at new Dera Ghazi Khan, where I found on 

 7th February 1914 an egg of the Spotted Owlet {A. brama) deposited in a 

 squirrel's nest on a small dead tree. The bird was sitting with its head 



