THE BIRDS OF NORTH KANARA. 601 



followed the movements among the leaves, and getting a glimpse of 

 the bird, fired. I Gould not see the result, but a search on the ground 

 below in the dark disclosed a specimen of this bird. The nest was a 

 neat cup outwardly composed of bark, bamboo and other leaves, and 

 lined inside with moderately fine roots. It is a solid and shallow nest. 

 It was in the fork of two or three branches in a low bamboo about a 

 foot from the ground and surrounded by evergreen forest. The egg 

 was long-shaped, of a pinkish-brown colour with a distinct cap of a 

 darker hue, and has faded a good deal since I secured it. 



325. SlTTA FRONTALIS, Horsf. 



I cannot find any record of having seen this bird below the Ghats, 

 though. I think I must have seen it. It is generally distributed in all 

 the forests above Ghats, but seems to avoid evergreens. A nest I took 

 at Manchikeri in the south of the Yellapur taluka on the 23rd March, 

 1894, consisted of a little green moss and one green, parrot's feather. 

 It was in a natural hole in a small tree some twenty feet from the 

 ground, the entrance being a large triangular crack. It contained three 

 fresh eggs, pinkish-white boldly marked with red. 

 327. Dicrurus ater, Herm. 

 This bird is not a common one in Kanara, except in the extreme 

 north-east corner of the district about Halyal. It is seen occasionally 

 along the coast from Karwar to Bhutkul, but is absent from the greater 

 portion of the district. I have seen nests with young at Karwar in June> 

 and with eggs at Halyal in the beginning of May and the end of April. 

 328. Dicrurus LONGICAUDATUS, A. Hay. 

 This bird is very common all over the district from the end of Octo- 

 ber to the end of April. I have never seen any signs of its breeding, 

 and do not thick it does so. Mr. Aitken however informs me that he 

 took a nest near Castle Rock on the 15th April, 1892, placed in a small 

 tree six feet from the ground. He showed me the eggs which I should 

 certainly have put down to those of Cliaptia aenm, and neither the 

 situation nor the eggs in the least resemble what I have seen in the 

 Himalayas, so I believe a mistake occurred and that this bird is merely 

 a migrant in Kanara. 



330. Dicrurus c^eulescens, Linn. 

 This bird is generally distributed in all the forests both below and 

 above Ghats, though in no place is it what I should call really common: 



