Nidification of some Birds from Burma. 23 



which the railway-bridge is coustructed. I have been 

 informed that it also breeds in the tunnels on the Lashio 

 side of the railway. 



I visited these caves on the 2iid of June, and saw hundreds 

 of birds flying in and out, and noticed numbers of nests 

 which were quite inaccessible (it would be possible to 

 reach a few with the aid of ladders). The caves are also 

 infested with innumerable bats, which are very notice- 

 able from the stench and the noise they make. These 

 bats must take a heavy toll of the Swifts, as I picked up 

 quite a number of eggs which had clearly been sucked; a 

 few, which had fallen into pools of water, made quite pre- 

 sentable specimens. The Swifts themselves are difficult to 

 procure, for if shot in or near the caves they fall into 

 the river. Outside the gorge is very steep, and covered with 

 dense jungle, so the only possible way to obtain specimens 

 Avas to shoot them from the railway-bridge, which is some 

 hundreds of feet high, and to have someone below to retrieve 

 the birds. I picked up a fully fledged young bird in the 

 caves, as well as a nest; this was saucer-shaped and com- 

 posed of grass, leaves and feathers, cemented together with 

 saliva. Two eggs picked up in the caves are a glossless 

 white, aud in shape elongated ovals, measuring I'O x 'Q7. 



Baza lophotes. 



Baza lophotes (Temm.) ; Blanford, Fauna, iii. 1895, 

 p. 409 ; Harington, Bombay Journ. xxi. 1911, p. 587. 



The nest and eggs of the Black-crested Baza have been 

 taken and described before, but as it is such a rare bird, it 

 may be of interest to record the finding of it again. 



I have seen this species on three or four occasions near 

 Maymyo. In March last year, when returning from 

 mauoeavres, I saw over a dozen birds. These were evi- 

 dently migrating, as they were all in one party *. On the 



* Note by Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker. — I doubt if they were migrating. 

 Baza lophotes is uiiich given to collecting in flocks at all times except 

 during the breeding season. 



