CBETIE. 



9 



rare to find a nest anywhere except from 1 to 5 feet above the 

 water-level of some perpendicular earthen cliff, going down straight 

 into the water. Nine times out of ten the nesi^hole can only be 

 got at from a boat. 



They lay, I know, from the latter end of January to the com- 

 mencement of April ; but I suspect they also lay towards the end 

 of the rains, for Mr. E. M. Adam "found a nest, October 30th, 

 1866, in a cliff about 18 feet high overhanging the Jumna. The 

 hole was about 4^ feet above water-level, and ran for about 7 feet 

 into the cliff. It contained four young birds able to fly." 



The depth of the nest-hole varies according to the nature of the 

 soil, extending to 4 or 5 foot where this is friable and sandy, and 

 scarcely exceeding a foot in stiff clayey banks. Usually the burrow 

 is quite horizontal and about 3 inches in diameter, and terminates 

 in a chamber some 6 or 7 inches across, in \\hicli fish-bones and 

 grass may be found strewed thinly about, but in which I have 

 never seen any approach to a real nest. 



Six is the greatest nnmber of eggs I ever saw taken out of a 

 nest, but it is quite common to meet with four or five hard-set 

 eggs in a nest. 



Mr. F. E. Blewitt remarks : — " This species breeds from February 

 to probably the middle of April. For its nest it makes a mode- 

 rately-sized circular hole, extending from 4 to 5 feet in the high 

 clay or sand-bank of a stream or river. At the termination the 

 hole is sMghtly enlarged for the better reception of the sitting 

 birds. The eggs are simply deposited on the sand. On two 

 occasions I witnessed the birds constructing the hole or nest; 

 they alternately relieved each other at the work, and when tired 

 sat together some short distance off on the opposite bank for a few 

 minutes. On the 8th February last, near Bamah (Eaepore District), 

 in the high bank of the Mahanuddee, I found a nest with three 

 fresh eggs, securing with them the parent birds. The length of 

 the hole was about 5 feet. The next day I discovered another nest 

 in the clay bank of a narrow but deep streamlet, with two fresh 

 eggs. The length of the hole was about 3-5 feet. 



" From personal experience 1 cannot affirm what may be the 

 maximum number of the eggs, but last year (in, I think, March) 

 my men found six young bii'ds in a nest in the bank of a small 

 stream. Of Alceclo bengalensis, they found, in the Saugor District, 

 seven unfledged young in a nest." 



Mr. Brooks writes : — " I have found the nest of this bird fre- 

 quently in the banks of the Tonse and Ganges. The nest is about 

 3 feet in the bank, and some 2 or 3 feet above the water-level, 

 and the hole by which the bird enters is about 2 inches in 

 diameter." 



Colonel Gr. Marshall says : — " This bird is very common in the 

 Saharunpore District ; it breeds in the usual places, holes in banks, 

 and lays four shining white eggs. In this part of the country it 

 breeds in March, and the young are hatched early in April. 



" I imagine the young birds liie with their parents some time 



