NESTING IN WESTERN INDIA. 219 
Messrs. Doig and Littledale found a nest, one egg, at Singargarh, 
near Seonth, Panch Mahals, on the 25th April 1886. The ege was 
white, faintly marked with brown at the largerend. Vide B. N.H.S. 
Journal, p. 195, No. 4, Vol. I. 
It is probably a permanent resident in those places in which it 
occurs, breeding during the hot season, making its nest on trees, 
at some height from the ground. The nest is neatly and compactly 
built, well lined with dead leaves. The eggs, two in number, are 
broad oval in shape, many of them being almost spherical; they 
measure about 2 inches in length by 1:72 in breadth. The ground 
colour varies from white to buffy-white, and the markings (consist- 
ing of blotches, clouds and mottlings) vary from reddish-brown to 
deep blood-red. They are as a rule very richly coloured. The shell 
is thin and brittle, smooth in texture, and usually quite devoid of 
gloss; the egg lining varies from greenish-white to dingy yellow- 
ish green. 
Mr. Davidson says, in epis: “‘I think it breeds very sparsely 
“in this Presidency. I took a nest in Mysore, on the 14th February 
‘©1878, and Ihave had eggs sent me from Tanna, taken, I believe, 
“in March. The nest I took was quite invisible from below the 
“treo, and was high up in athick mango. I sawthe bird carrying 
“sticks into the tree, otherwise I should never have found the 
* nest.” 
59.—THE BLACK-WINGED KITE, 
Elanus ceeruleus, Desf. 
The Black-winged Kite is distributed generally throughout the 
plain portion of the Presidency, sparingly in the north but becoming 
more common in the Deccan. It breeds at the close of the year, 
building a neat compact stick nest, lined with grass, in a fork in 
the upper portion of a tree. Tho eggs, three or four in number, are 
broad oval in shape, measuring about 1:5 inches in length by alittle 
less than 1*2 in breadth; they are greyish or creamy-white in colour, 
mottled and clouded with various shades of reddish-brown and 
dingy-red, occasionally approaching to blood- red; they are rather 
chalky in texture, and the egg lining is pale sea~green. 
Mr. Hl. Littledale found a nest containing three incubated eggs 
at Tandalja, two miles from Baroda, on the 23rd October 1885, and 
a nest with young birds early in the same month.—B, N. H. 8. 
Journal, page 80, No. 2; Vol. I. 
