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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 777 



No. X.— THE KING VULTURE {OTOGYPS CALVUS) IN SIND. 



I found the nest of the King Vulture to-day. The bird was sitting on it. 

 1 hunted her off and found a young bird in the nest. The nest was built in 

 the top of a small dead babul tree about 35 feet from the ground. The tree 

 was close to an old bed of the river Indus, in which there was still some 

 water. It was in the Murid Rais forest of the Hyderabad Division. 



My reason for communicating the above is that Murray (Vertebrate 

 Zoology of Sind) says of this bird, " said to breed on inaccessible cliffs from 

 January to April ", and Barnes does not seem to have found a nest in Sind. 



E. G. OLIVER, 



Dy. Conservator of Forests. 

 Karachi, March 17 t/t, 1915. 



[Many of the statements in Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind are not to be 

 relied on. Dr. Jerdon in his Birds of India wrote that this species "is said to 

 usually breed on inaccessible cliffs " and though this statement was hardly correct 

 it was copied into the " Vertebrate Zoology of Sind," The King Vulture nearly, 

 if not always, nests in trees, sometimes even on bushes where there are few trees. 

 In the Eastern Narra the King Vulture was not imcommon as a breeding species 

 in Doig's time. — Eds.] 



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No. XL— WOODCOCK (SCOLOPAX RUSTICULA) IN THE 

 EASTERN GHATS. 



The enclosed photographs will no doubt interest you. 



The birds were shot at Salabam, which is situated on the Eastern Ghats, 

 at an elevation of about 4,000 ft., Lat. N. 18°-10', Long. 82° 45', on 26th 

 February by Mr. L. T. Harris, i.c.s. 



He was just about to photograph a little pool in the jungle when his peon 

 called his attention to the woodcock and he hastily exchanged the camera 

 for his gun, and was lucky enough to get it. 



P. H. ARBUTHNOT. 



VizAGAPATAM, 5t]i March I9I5, 



[We are unable to reproduce the photograph of the Woodcock. There are few 

 records of Woodcock on the Eastern Ghats so this note is of considerable 

 interest. — Eds.] 



No. XII.— SNIPE IN LOWER BURMA. 



A few notes on the Snipe season in Lower Burma during the year 1914 

 might be of interest. The season was very poor. According to my diary, 

 there appears to be a steady decline since 1909-10, these two years ha\ang 

 been excellent. In 1913, birds, especially " fantail," stayed very late. 

 On the 30th November I got 26 couple, in two short outings in December 

 28 couple, and at the beginning of 1914, on the 24th January, a couple of hours 

 produced 26 couple ; my last few snipe (5 couple) being shot as late as 10th 

 April. I saw 3 or 4 birds on the 26th April, but lost the one I had managed 

 to get in thick jungle. Towards the end of August birds started arriving, 

 rather later than usual, as the 13th might be taken as average for the last 

 seven years. Owing to a record rainfall most of the grounds were under 

 water, and on the few higher situated fields birds were few and very wild. 

 I believe only one good bag of 51 f couple was obtained by one gun, on the 

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