546 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. X, 



Hartert (Cat. loc. cit.) mentions that this bird sometimes lays three 

 eggs. As he probably says this on the authority of some notes I 

 gave him about seven years ago, I may mention here that three 

 eggs in a nest are quite abnormal though I obtained such two or three 

 times the year before I wrote the notes in question and have this month 

 taken oue other. 



The birds breed twice in the year, and I have taken nests as early as- 

 the 27th January and as late as the 30th September. If the first nest 

 is destroyed, the second contains far less saliva, and being made of more 

 bulky materials, is generally also a good deal larger. They are 

 extremely bold little birds and pass constantly within a few feet, even 

 inches, of the people inside the houses, and when they have fixed on a 

 situation for their nest it is almost impossible to induce them to leave. 

 If a nest and eggs are taken, the birds promptly build another, almost 

 exactly on the same spot from which the other was stolen, and I have 

 heard of their building even a third. 



Sub-Family ChceturincB. - 

 (453) Ch^tuka nudipes. — The Short-spined Spine-tail. 

 Hume, No. 96 Bis ; Cat., B. 3Iuseum, • Vol. XVI, p. 474. 



A specimen of this bird was shot by me hawking for insects over 

 a hill close to my bungalow. I took home to England this and some 

 other Spine-tails in order that I might have my identification either 

 confirmed or corrected. On an examination of them by Mr. Hartert 

 and myself at Tring, all proved to be correctly identified, so we have 

 the remarkable fact that three sorts of Spine-tail were all shot in the 

 same place, and this too in a district whence two of the species had 

 not hitherto been recorded. 



The wing of my bird (measured from the skin, not from life) is only 

 7'31". The light centre to the back contrasts very strongly with the 

 surrounding glossy dark hue. 



The colour of the soft parts are as follows: — Irides, dark brown ; 

 bill, black ; legs, dull dark purple or purplish-lead colour.. 

 i- (454) Ch^tuka GiGANTEA. — The Giant Spine-taiL 

 Hume, No. 96 Bis ; Cat., B. Museum, Vol. XVI, p. 475. 



I have obtained but a single bird of this species, one of a large flock 

 which was hawking over the same bare hill on which I obtained 

 C. nudipes and also a few C. indica. Probably this bird is as common 



