98



Some Notes on the White-legged Falconet.



were feathers which proved that Barbets, Cinnamon Sparrows, a

Pipit of some kind and various other birds larger than themselves

had been sacrificed to their appetite.


Sometimes they soar round in the air much in the way

of Swallow-Shrikes, fluttering to one side or the other, as some

insect attracts their attention, but keeping much to one spot generally

round and round some big tree. My attention to this habit was first

drawn by Dr. H. N. Colltart, to whose garden at Margherita, in

Assam, a pair of these Falconets were regular visitors, evidently

nesting somewhere in the close vicinity, though we never succeeded

in finding where.


Very little is known of the breeding of this and the allied

Falconets, but it is probable that they always lay their eggs in holes

in trees, deserted nest holes of Woodpeckers, Barbets, etc. I once

found an egg of this species in N. Cachar and two others in the Khasia

Hills, and in each case these eggs were taken from deserted Barbet’s

nest holes, which were more or less filled with a mass of wings, legs,

and other remains of insects. In addition to these there were a few

feathers, conspicuous amongst them the scarlet and black feathers

from a Minivet in one nest, and in another those of a Franklin’s

Barbet.


The eggs are very unhawk-like in character and colour. In

shape they are rather stout little ovals, practically the same size at

either end, and the texture is like that of polished chalk, not so soft

and chalky as that of the Crow Pheasants ( Taccocua or Gentropus),

but more so than that of the Barbets, Parrots, etc.


Two eggs now in my collection measure respectively 29‘1 x

23'3 mm. and 27'7 x 22'7 mm.


The only other egg I have seen of these little Falconets is one

of Microhierax eutolmus, sent to me from the Malay States. This

is exactly like those already described and measures 29'2 x 24’5.

This last egg was taken on the 4th February from a deserted Wood¬

pecker’s nest-hole high up in a big tree. My two eggs of the White¬

legged Falconet were taken on the 12th March, 1889, and the 4th

of July, 1908, respectively.



