MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 611 



bird that laid the eggs till late one evening I disturbed her off the nest and 

 shot her. There were then three eggs. 



I was not aware that this Robin ever took possession of other 

 bird's nests. I have found numerous nests of this species but invariably 

 built by the bird itself and placed either in holes, in banks, stumps 

 or under the shelter of rocks, but never in the middle of a bush as 

 this was. 



I send these few notes in the hope they may interest some of the 

 members. 



F. FIELD. 



Gaya, Behar, May 1902. 



No. XXI.— BAT SEIZING A SBUTTLE-COCK. 



I do not know whether the following occurrence is a rare one, and worth 

 recording ; — 



As a party were playing at Badminton here yesterday, a bat (size about 

 i" to 8" across the wings) flew about following the shuttle-cock and finally 

 seized it and bore it ofE just as a lady was about to strike it. We watched 

 the bat for a short time, and expected to see it drop the shuttle-cock on 

 finding it was not living and unedible, but it did not. 



Possibly the feathers of the shuttle-cock got entangled in the animal's 

 claws and so it could not drop it. In the evening the bats here very often 

 hover about while a game of Badminton is going on but I have never known 

 one seize a shuttle-cock or even strike it before. 



G. E. COLES. 

 Naboba, via Rajghat, 2hth May 1902. 



No. XXII.— ARTIFICES PRACTISED BY BULBULS. 



Referring to Mr. Aitken' note on this subject on page 162 of this volume, 

 the following extract from my notes, dated Bushire, 5th May 1897, may be of 

 interest : — 



"NOTE ON OTOOOMPSA LEUGOTIS." 



" On the evening of the 5th May, I was standing near a Dodonea bush 

 about 8 to 9 feet high in the Telegraph garden, watching the different birds 

 having their last search for food before retiring to roost for the night ; when 

 a Bulbul {Otocompsa leucotis) flew to the ground in front of me, about ten 

 paces away ; it appeared hurt in one wing and unable to fly. I was about to 

 move forward to see what was wrong with the bird, but at the moment it 

 occurred to me, this was a common trick with Plovers to allure one away from 

 the vicinity of their nests, but never having seen a Bulbul act in this way 

 before, I watched the bird and as it flew with apparent difficulty on to a 

 raised watercourse and then to the lower branches of an Oleander bush I 

 felt convinced the bird must really be hurt, and was about to try and capture 

 it, when it uttered a low soft note, yet a note that could be distinctly heard 



