196 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL MIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII, 



The use of fragments of seed cases of the Shisham is remarkable as likely 

 to have some connection with the English Nuthatch's habit of using pine 

 bark in the construction of its nest ; at any rate both materials would seem 

 to have the same characteristics and presumably therefore the same 

 (unknown) advantages. 



H. WHISTLER, 

 Indian Police, Punjab. 



No. XII.— OOOURRENCE OF FRATINCOLA LEUCVRA, Blyth, 

 IN THE PUNJAB. 



When collecting in the grass jungle on the banks of the River Sutlej at 

 Ferozepore on April 6th, I secured a Chat which proved on examination to 

 be The White-tailed Bush-Chat, Pratincola leucura, Blyth, F. I. No. 611. 

 It was a male with the testes well developed. A few days later on April 

 17th I was in the same jungle and noticed a Chat that shewed a flash of 

 white each time it fluted its tail ; accordingly I shot the bird and found 

 that, as I expected, it was a second leucura — a male in good plumage 

 although the sex was not dicernible by dissection. On the same ground 

 Pratincola maura was abundant at the time. Unfortunately I left the district 

 at the end of the month without being able to settle the status of the 

 bird which may prove to be a resident in the riverain area and moderately 

 common. This species does not appear to have been recorded from the 

 Punjab although Sind and the Terai are given in the Fauna as localities 

 for it. 



H. WHISTLER, 

 Indian Police, Punjab. 



No. XIII.— OCCURRENCE OF THE RED-TAILED CHAT {SAXICOLA 

 CHRYSOPYGIA, De Filippi) IN THE VICINITY OF SIMLA. 



My friend, Mr. Alec. Jones, has just sent me a specimen of the above 

 which he shot on the 29th September last near Sairee (about 9 miles from 

 Simla). Hitherto this species does not appear to have been recorded from, 

 the Punjab east of the River Jhelum. 



P. T. L. DODSWORTH. 



Simla, 2nd October 1912. 



No. XIV.— ON THE NESTING OF HODGSON'S GRAND ALA 

 (GRANDALA CCELICOLORJ. 



It will be of interest to some of your readers to hear that the eggs of the 

 Grandala have been at last secured. I recorded in the journal of May 

 20, 1911, the finding of the nest with two young and in June of that year 

 my collector got a nest with two slightly incubated eggs from the same 

 locality, securing both the parent birds. The eggs are distinctly meru- 

 line in appearance, being greenish white, spotted and marked with reddish 

 brown and with purplish undermarkings : they measure 1*06 X "81 and 

 1-12 X "75 of an inch and there is some dissimilarity between the eggs, thfr 

 shorter one being greener and the more heavily marked. The markings are 

 distributed all over, there being no zinc or cap. The nest and its position 

 was similar to that formerly described by me. 



S. L. WHYMPER. 



England, December 1912. 



