m-2 JOUBNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



of the verandah of the house in which I was living. The house in question 

 was surrounded by pine trees, and the verandah, which was in the upper 

 storey, faced S. W. 



The birds laboured intermittently, ceasing work entirely for two or three 

 days at a time, and then making up for this by periods of exceptional industry. 



The nest was of the usual retort shape and was placed almost directly above 

 the door of one of the living rooms. When completed it was 9J inches in length 

 and the size of the entrance was 1^X21 inches. As soon as its construction was 

 sufficiently advanced the birds roosted in it regularly every night. They were 

 remarkably fearless and frequently remained perched on a telephone wire within 

 a foot or two of persons standing in, or passing along the verandah. Early in 

 July it appeared that the hen had begun to sit, and on the evening of the 7th 

 July I took the eggs, which were three in number, one addled and two moderately 

 incubated. To do so I had to break away about 2 inches of the entrance to the 

 nest, the egg chamber remaining intact. The birds sat on the telephone wire 

 close by while I was so engaged, and roosted in the nest immediately afterwards. 

 The next day they set to work rebuilding the entrance, and finished it in about 

 a week. 



Torrential rain fell on the night of the 22nd July, and on the following day 

 the birds found it necessary to strengthen their work. On the night of the 

 2nd August there was another very heavy fall of rain, followed by a drizzle on 

 the 3rd, and on the 4th the entrance was again strengthened. Meanwhile the 

 hen had laid again, and eventually two young birds were hatched. 



My opportunities for observation being limited, I did not notice food being 

 carried to the nest until the 24th August, by which time the young birds were 

 almost ready to fly. 



From the 14th August onwards the weather had remained dry, but the con- 

 tinual coming and going of the parent birds necessitated more repairs to the 

 entrance of the nest, which were carried out on the 28th August. 



The early morning of the 31st August was, I believe, the first occasion on 

 which the young birds left the nest and indulged in trial flights under the super- 

 vision of their parents. These did not last long, and the youngsters were 

 soon back in the nest again. Between the flights the family rested on the tele- 

 phone Avire, the parent birds allowing one to stand quite close without showing 

 any alarm for the safety of their progeny. 



A similar programme was carried out on the mornings of the 1st and 2nd 

 September, and on the 3rd and 4th the family was away all day, only returning 

 in the evening to roost. 



Early on the morning of the 5th September the nest gave way, presumably 

 under the combined weight of all four birds. Its collapse was certainly not 

 due to absorption of moisture, for the weather was then comparatively dry. 

 It so happened that I heard the fall, and was able to examine the remains before 

 they were removed by the sweeper. Amongst them was a broken egg, obvious- 

 ly addled, showing that the hen had again laid three, of which only 2 were fertile. 

 The lining of the nest consisted of grass and fine roots below and a considerable 

 quantity of various sized feathers above. It contained a number of what ap- 

 peared to be a species of tick. 



The breasts of the young birds were white without any of the striations of 

 the adult. 



H. W. WAITE, 



Indian Police. 



Simla, 

 Ibih September 1920. 



