MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 199 



No. XVII.— EARLY NESTING OF THE INDIAN PIED KINGFISHER 

 (CERYLE VA.RIA) IN BURMA. 



It is interesting to record that I have to-day (7-12-12) taken the eggs 

 of this kingfisher here. The nest was the usual tunnel about two feet long 

 situated from twelve to fifteen feet high in a sandy river bank. My 

 attention was drawn to it by the two birds scolding and by one of them 

 settling on the flat sand of the river bed close by. I watched and saw 

 one of the birds enter the hole. At the end of the tunnel was a large 

 chamber, measuring some 18 inches in length by 12 inches broad and high. 

 In the middle of this were three eggs lying on soft sand mixed with tiny 

 fish bones, among which I found the minute pharyngeal teeth of some 

 species of carp. I was much surprised to find these teeth as the stream 

 is merely the shallow outflow of a large tank here and has a sandy bottom 

 and is far from any hills or rocks. The eggs were in an advanced stage 

 of incubation, except one v/hich was addled or infertile. These eggs must 

 have been laid some time in November, surely a very early ( ? or late) 

 date for this species to nest ! 



F. E. W. VENNING, Capt. 

 Pyawbwe. Itli December 1912. 



No. XVIII.— PAIRED OVARIES IN THE GENUS ASTUR. 



On 21st December 1912, I shot a specimen of the Shikra (Astur badius) 

 which on dissection proved to be a female with a well-developed pair of 

 ovaries. In a recent communication to the Zoological Society* Mr. T. E. 

 Gunn, F. L. S., has shown that this is by no means an uncommon con- 

 dition in the Falconidi«, especially in the genera Circus and Accipiter. In 

 the present case the two organs are symmetrically placed, one on either 

 side of the vertebral region, parallel to each other and containing 

 approximately an equal number of ova of even size. The questions 

 whether both ovaries are functional or not, and the oviduct in use I have 

 left to the examination of those more competent than I to decide. The 

 dorsal wall of the body with the ovaries has been preserved in spirits and 

 is sent herewith for the Society's Museum. 



F. E. W. VENNING, Capt. 

 Pyawbwe, Burma, 2Sth December 1912. 



No. XIX.— OCCURRENCE OF THE CRAB-PLOVER 

 {DROMAS ARDEOLA) IN THE MALAY PENINSULA. 



The very abnormal Limicoine bird, the Crab-Plover {Dromasardeola, Payk,) 

 has never apparently been recorded from the Malay Peninsula, or indeed 

 from any locality east of the Andamans where it appears to be fairly 

 common. It may therefore be interesting to note that Mr. E. Seimund 

 of this museum, while shore shooting at Pulau Pintu Gedong, a mangrove 

 island at the entrance to Klang Straits on the Coast of Selangor, midway 

 between Penang and Singapore, observed a flock of six individuals on 



*See P. Z. S., 1912, Part I, pp. 63-79. 

 [It may perhaps be as well to note that some ornithologists consider that the 

 genera Astur and Accipiter are inseparable. The bird Captain Venning has kindly 

 sent is an example of the dark Assam and Burmese form Astur badius poliopsis 

 (Hume.) — Eds.] 



