MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 197 



No. XV.— ROCK THRUSH AT LAHORE. 



Through the kindness of Captain A. Cruickshank the Society has 

 received the skin of the Rock Thrush, Monticola saxatilis, shot at Lahore. 

 The bird was shot on 18th September and is in first pkamage. As far as 1 

 know this bird has not been obtained so far south in India before, though 

 Major Marshall shot one in January and another in April 1902 at Quetta. 



Captain Whitehead has only once met with this bird near Kohat, viz., on 

 September 6th, 1909. 



N. B. KINNEAR. 



Bombay, January 1913. 



No. XVI.— SOME NOTES ON THE NESTING AND PLUMAGE 



OF THE SHAHIN FALCON (FALCO PEREGRINATOR), VEL. 



THE BLACK-CAP FALCON (lALCO ATRICEPS,) 



The question whether the Falco peregrinator of Sundevall is identical 

 with the Falco atriceps of Hume, or whether the latter is a geographical 

 race of the former is still, I understand, a moot point. Hume was empha- 

 tic (Rough Notes, pp. 55-62 and S. F. Vol. VII, pp. 326-327) that his bird, 

 which was confined to the central section of the Himalayas, was quite 

 distinct, and was the northern representative in India of the Shahin. 

 Assuming for the moment that the two birds are identical, I give below 

 the following particulars relating to the nesting and plumage of a pair of 

 these Falcons, in the hopes that these may be of some use hereafter to 

 systematists, and also as an inducement to ornithologists in India general- 

 ly to try and obtain skins (and if possible in various stages of plumage) 

 of this somewhat rare species and to send them to our Society for com- 

 parison and note. 



At the beginning of this year, one of my hunters reported that he had 

 noticed a pair of " Neela Shahins" haunting a huge precipice in the 

 vicinity of the Shogi Railway Station, K. S. Railway, elevation about 

 6,000 feet, and about nine miles from Simla, N. W. Himalayas. On the 

 18th March I visited the spot, and saw both the birds, which I at once 

 identified as belonging to this species. From the noise the female made^ — 

 her note was a prolonged " chir-r-r-r every now and then when the male 

 flew close to her, and from other signs, there seemed no doubt that they 

 intended nesting on the cliS". Between the 18th March and 19th April 

 (the nest was discovered on the latter date), the locality was frequently 

 visited, but though there must have been eggs at least by the first 

 week in April (on 21st April 2 eggs had hatched), the strange 

 thing was that both the old birds were always seen sitting on the cliff ! 

 And it was this behaviour on their part which misled us. However, on the 

 19th April the cock gave away the show by betraying the position of the 

 nest. I mention these details because it seemed strange that these Falcons 

 never appeared to sit on their eggs. The only way I can account for this 

 is that during the middle of the day, the time we usually visited the spot, 

 the birds deserted their nests, and trusted to the heat from the rocks as 

 suflicient for the incubation of the eggs. 



On the 21st April I laid siege to the nest, which was placed in a niche 

 on the cliff. On my arrival the female was sitting on the precipice, and as 

 she flew, I knocked her over. Shortly after this the male arrived on the 

 scene, and flew straight into the nest. With a great deal of stone throw- 

 ing and noise we got him off, and I shot him also. 



The nest was a loose irregular platform of sticks, with a central depres- 

 sion, a few pieces of string, rope, some rags, and other odds and end* 



