JANUARY 



January is in all parts of the country the month for the larger 

 birds of prey. Of the fifty -six kinds of birds known to breed at this 

 time, twenty-eight belong to this order (Rapiores). 



In the Himalayas, with the exception of a solitary instance of a 

 nest of the brown water ouzel {Hydrobata asiatica), none but the nests 

 of raptores have been found. Vultures, eagles, falcons, and kites are 

 either building or laying, and as these birds are comparatively few in 

 numbers, with great powers of flight, it is necessary to explore over a 

 large extent of country to get many eggs ; both birds and nests are 

 conspicuous. Eyries can generally be marked down in the course of 

 the morning's ride, and arrangements made afterwards for obtaining the 

 egi^s ; a matter often of no small difficulty, as, whether the nest is on 

 a ledge of the rock itself or in a tree, it is generally on the face of a 

 precipice, which it requires both skill and nerve to surmount. 



In the Punjab, besides the birds of prey, the raven, the striated 

 bush babbler, and the dusky sand martin have eggs. Watch should be 

 kept on all the large birds of prey, and every large solitary tree should 

 be scanned, as it is on such trees that nests of eagles, vultures, &c., will 

 be found. These nests are conspicuous from a distance. I have often seen 

 and noted them while passing along on a railway journey, returning 

 when opportunity offered to examine the nest. 



In the North-West Provinces the Indian hoopoe, the sand martin, 

 the pin-tailed munia, the blue rock pigeon, the common sand grouse, and 

 the doves have eggs, as well as the vultures and eagles, and falcons and 

 some of the owls. 



In Bengal, the sand martin is the only bird now breeding in any 

 quantities, besides the birds of prey. 



In Central India, the dusky crag martin, the munias and amada- 

 vats, and doves have eggs, besides the birds of prey which lay everywhere 

 at this period. 



In South India, the large birds of prey are few in number, but the 

 eggs of many other kinds may now be sought for. ' Some species of 

 ■woodpeckers, martins, honey suckers, flower peckers, quaker thrushes, 

 bulbuls, bluebirds, wagtails, finch larks, doves, quail, and water 

 birds are already known to breed there at this season, and it is probable 



