396 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIV 



two yellow ones. Some frogs had been put in rs food, and the black cobra 

 and one of the yellow ones attacking the same frog, the black cobra swallow- 

 ed both the frog and the other cobra. Both cobras measured about 4J feet 

 in length. 



With the Daboias or Russell's Vipers {Vipera russellf) which we have alive — 

 it frequently happens that if hungry, two vipers will try to obtain one rat 

 even if one of them has not bitten it, but when their heads approach each 

 other in trying to swallow the rat, one of them always manages to let go — 

 and the viper who has secured the head of the rat first, is almost always the 

 winner. 



In the case of cobras, however, they are more tenacious of their hold 



and their fangs being fixed slanting backwards, it is probably more difficult 



for them to detach themselves from their prey, and the victim only fir.ds out 



his mistake when it is too late to extract himself from the other cobra's 



throat, 



W, S, MILLARD, 



Honorary Secretarj'. 



Bombay Natural History Mdskum, 



mh March 1902, 



No. XVIII.— MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON BIRDS' NESTING 

 ROUND POONA AND ELSEWHERE, 



Thi*: Red-Headed Merlcn {Falco chicquera). — Although fairly common, 

 I have not been over successful iu obtaining its eggs. So long ago as 

 February 1888, 1 found a nest at Rajkote containing 4 fresh eggs, which was 

 situated in a mango tope high up and overhanging a well. It was after a 

 shoot and I told one of the beaters to climb up and investigate. As he 

 refused, I said I would not pay them any wages until I had got the eggs and 

 drove away, I must confess the nest was in a most " hairy " place. I had hardly 

 gone a couple of hundred yards when I heard the beaters shouting out, I at 

 once came to the conclusion that one of them, in endeavouring to reach the 

 nest ha J been precipitated into the well by the breaking of a bough, I 

 returned as rapidly as possible, and was relieved to find that nothing had gone 

 wronw, and that the man had got the eggs. On this the beaters received 

 their wages. From that date till the present year, I have never come 

 across the nest again. On the 7th January, not far from Poona, I was 

 attracted by the call of one of these birds and, at the same time, saw 

 it swoop down and up again over a bare Banyan tree alongside the 

 rail. I imm.odiately proceeded to examine it, and was not long in discover- 

 ing two crow-like nests. On throwing up stones at that which appeared the 

 freshest I observed a bird moving within it, I had only about 10 minutes 

 in which to catch the train, and fortunately the station was very handy and 

 the tree easy to climb, so I sent my shikari up double quick and obtained 3 

 perfectly fresh eggs. While these were being taken the parent birds sat on 



