2 ALCEDI>ID.E. 



patch of these, but that they are there placed as a lining I can 

 hardly credit, as in the majority of cases there are fewer bones 

 under the eggs than elsewhere in the chamber and passage. 



Mr. E. Thompson tells me that •' in the Bhabur and Kumaon 

 Terai this species breeds from March to May, iu long narrow holes 

 dug out by the birds on the banks of small running streams." 



Captain Hutton says : — " On the ] 4th of June we took fi\'e 

 semitransparent fleshy-white eggs out of a hole in the bank of a 

 stream in the Dehra Doon." 



Messrs. Davidson and Wenden remark of this bird in the 

 Deccan: — " Pau-ly common and breeds. A nest taken at Satara 

 iu June." 



Writing froui Ahmednugger in the Deccan, Eev. H. Bruce 

 said : — " jMarch 15th, 1869. Pound this day at Euhuri two nests 

 of Alceclo beiKjalensis, in one of which were six eggs and in the 

 other five ; the first nest was built in the bank of the river about 

 2 feet above the water ; the hole was about .2 inches in diameter, 

 dug horizontally in the sandy bank to the depth of 12 or 14 inches, 

 and at the end of this was an excavation about 5 inches in dia^ 

 meter. The eggs were laid in a hollow at the bottom of this ex- 

 ca\ ation ; there ^\ as a layer of fragments of fish-bones upon the 

 earth, and the eggs were laid upon this. The other nest was not 

 more than a foot aboxe the \\ater-level, but in other respects 

 similar to the first. Both nests were placed directly over the 

 water, the first over standinr/ \^-ater and the second over ninninr/ 

 water." 



Colonel Butler writes : — " Bdrjaum, 22nd August, 1879. Four 

 eggs about to hatch. The nest-hole was situated in a bank over- 

 looking a small tank about 2 feet from the level of the water, and 

 the eggs were deposited in a good-sized chamber on the bare 

 ground without aoy nest, about a foot from the entrance of the 

 hole. 



" On the 2-tth August I. observed either tlie same or another 

 pair commencing a nest in another tanJc clo^e by — the bank in 

 Mbich they were boring being about 7 feet high, overlooking the 

 water and facing a public road along which people were constantly 

 passing to and fro the whole day. There were two spots much 

 marked by the «hite droppings of the old bu-ds, near the nest, one 

 an old root growing out of the bank, the other a projecting clod 

 of earth, upon one of which one or other of the birds invariably 

 sat. Upon this date, from the actions of the birds, I came to the 

 conclusion that they were only clearing out the hole. One of 

 the birds, presumably the hen, sat on one of the perches outside 

 of the nest until the other arrived, when she immediately left her 

 perch and entered the nest-hole. After a minute or two the other 

 bird (cock presumably) left his perch and passed the hole, uttering 

 a short shrill twitter as he flew by, upon which the hen emerged 

 from the hole and resumed her seat on the perch till the cock re- 

 turned, which was usually in about four or five minutes, durino- 

 which she started down occasionally into the water below to catch 



