108 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIIL 



and under part canary yellow. The latter appears to be the adult female, 

 for apparently they never assume, except perhaps as a freak, the adult males 

 garb. The former is probably the female in the first year. This is the opi- 

 nion of Dr. 0. B. Ticehurst, who kindly went through the series of this 

 species which I sent home and afterwards exhibited them at the B. O. C. 

 Meeting on 9th April last, and also of Mr. Stuart Baker. 



856. Otocorys lonyirostris. — The Long-billed Horned Lark. 



Is not uncommon near the head of the valley above 11,500 feet. The nest 

 is merely a hollow scantily lined with grass and vegetable down. Nine 

 nests in all were found with eggs. The fvill clutch is 2, and occasionally 

 3. The eggs are pale stone-coloured and small for the size of the bird. 



Whilst watching the first nest, the hen returned and at once set to work 

 to remove the eggs by rolling them carefully down the slope with her bill. 

 This also happened at another nest. 



This lark is extremely hardy, by mid June many clutches had already been 

 hatched out even up at 13,000 feet where clear of snow. On June 26th, on 

 the top of the Babusar Pass 13,580 feet a blizzard swept spot, we found a 

 nest containing 3 young — 2 of these were dead, evidently killed by the 

 blizzard which had been raging for 12 hours almost on end — the parents 

 were still busily getting food for the survivor. 



Some 5 yards from another nest was found a single egg not one of the 

 Larks as it was smaller and nearly glossless. It must, I think, be a Cuckoo's 

 (C. canorus telephonus) as this species was very common in those parts. 



The young are plain brown above, spotted with fulvous brown, otherwise 

 resembling the adult 5 • 



Alarm note — a whistling jj>eo or sometimes ee-uf. 



In nestlings the gape was orange with one black spot an the tip of the 

 inside of the lower mandible, another on the tip of the tongue and a 

 kidney-shaped one in the centre of the tongue. 



1104. Cuculus canorus telephonus. 



The cuckoo is abundant up to 14,000 feet. I was surprised to find several 

 calling above 13,000 feet where everything was under snow as early as May. 



•At the higher elevations they appear to continue calling to a later date. 

 They were still cuckooing on July 24th when I left the head of the valley 

 but none were heard lower down. 



I found a young cuckoo in the nest of the Himalayan Ruby-throat 

 {Callio2}e pectoralis), and in another nest of the same species got a pale blue 

 cuckoo's egg about double the size of the Ruby-throat's and much paler. 



Stuart Baker does not mention this species among the list of the foster 

 parents of the Cuckoo (B. N.H. S. J. Vol. XVII, p. 78 and p. 881). I also 

 suspect an egg found outside the nest of a Long-billed Horn Lark 

 belonging to this species. A rufous female I shot containing a half -formed 

 egg is now in the National Collection. 



1208. Siercstus pennatus. — The Booted Eagle. 



Is not uncommon in summer in the Western Himalayas at least as far 

 East as the Sutlej Valley, though it is only supposed to be a winter visitor 

 (vide Fauna of India). 



A nest was found at 10,000 feet on 22nd June. It was a huge platform 

 of sticks lined with green pine-needles on the top of a Blue Pine (Pinus 

 excelsus). It contained a single plain white egg. There were 2 holes* in it 

 and the contents were nearly dried up. However the female was still incuba- 

 ting it. As I could not satisfactorily identify her, I was obliged to shoot 

 her (the skin is now in the British Museum). 



* Mr. S. L. Whymper has had a similar experience with Eaglet's eggs and believes 

 that it is due to their removing or trying to remove them from their nests (Vol. 

 XVIII, p. 187). Or perhaps it is due to their leaving their nests in a great hurry. 



