MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 403 



habits. Our old friend Mr. Hornaday has a delightful Singalese 

 yarn, of its curling round the elephant's trunk, and so choking him. 

 He gives also a good plate. Mr. Blanford^s (of another species) 

 is inferior in execution, perhaps not in fidelity. With this plate 

 ends our author's list of the Mammals of India. Probably the most 

 noticeable addition to their roll, since he wrote, has been made in 

 this Journal, in the record of Paradoxurus nictitatans (a name that 

 might well be cropped of a syllable) . 



On the whole, this work is much the best of the series, and it is 

 to be hoped that Mr. Blanford will do no worse in the Third Volume 

 of the Birds, which will describe all those of most interest to the 

 sportsman. If it is to be as dry as the first and second, its po- 

 pularity and value will be little above those of Mr. Murray's " Edible 

 and Game Birds." 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I.— NEST AND EGGS OF THE CRESTED BLACK KITE. 



[Baza lophotes). 

 On the 30th April, 1892, while out on a stroll, collecting birds in the Mepale 

 forests, which form part of the Thoungyin Valley, on the south-east frontier of 

 Tenasserim, I came upon a Crested Black Kite sitting on the top of a dry tree ah 

 the edge of a small opening in bamboo and tree forest. I fired at the bird but 

 missed, and at the sound of the shot a second bird of the same species swooped 

 out of a tall leafy tree some 30 yards oif. As I have found the crested Black Kite 

 a somewhat rare bird, 1 sat down and waited to see if the birds would not return. In 

 a little while one did return to the dry tree, while the other commenced circling 

 round and round. I again fired at the seated bird, but, to my disgust, missed, and 

 both birds flew off'. However, I still thought if I hid myself, the birds might 

 chance to come back, and in a few minutes, to my delight, I saw one come back and 

 alight on the leafy tree. Watching it for a bit I noticed that it moved alon* the 

 branch into a thick leafy part of the tree and remained there. I was then sure 

 there must be a nest somewhere, for the second bird also returned to its original 

 perch on the dry tree. Previous observations of Baza lophotes had shewed 

 rae that it was a very shy bird, so the return of these two birds again and 

 again to the same spot could only be accounted for by their being nesting 

 there at the time. Determined to secure a specimen I again fired at the 

 last-mentioned bird but missed again; the tree was evidently too high for 

 the shot to take efi'ect, and, as I afterwards found out, the local manufacturer 

 had kindly loaded my cartridges with 2| drams of powder, and then 



