ACCIPITEE. 123 



I verified the fact o£ one pair breeding there last year, though I 

 failed to secure the eggs. 



At the same time the great majority of the present species do, un- 

 questionably I think, go further north to breed. Dr. Stoliczka 

 remarks : — " Both the Kestrel and Sparrow-HawJi were common in 

 the upper Lachen and Lachung vaUeys after the middle of Septem- 

 ber, evidently migrating southwards. None were seen on the Ohola 

 range at the end of August. The Kestrel was seen a few days 

 sooner than the Sparrow-Hawk." 



This is quite my own experience ; a few pairs remain to breed 

 all over the Himalayas in well-wooded localities, at elevations of 

 from 5000 to perhaps 8000 feet ; but the vast majority go further 

 north, and, with numberless young birds, begin to reappear in 

 September. 



The late Major Cock took three eggs of this species on the 

 2ud of June out of a nest in a tree near Soonamurg, in the valley 

 of Cashmere. " While watching birds in a pine wood on a hill- 

 side near Soonamurg, Cashmere, I noticed some Hawk that now 

 and again flew past the tops of the trees under which I was sitting; 

 whenever this occurred 1 heard the shrill cry of another bird, so I 

 concluded a female was sitting somewhere near. After a diligent 

 search I found the nest three-fourths up a high pine. My man 

 got up to the nest, which was a ragged stick-nest with nothing 

 characteristic about it, and announced three eggs, which I secured. 

 I then waited and fired at the female as she came back, and to my 

 great regret only wounded her. I waited for the other bird ; 

 this I bagged, and it proved to be a male Aecipiter nisus." 



The parent bird, which I examined, is unquestionably an adult 

 male A. nisus. One of these eggs is a very perfect rather broad 

 oval. The shell is fine and compact, but there is no gloss. The 

 ground-colour is a very delicate pale green, or greenish white, very 

 boldly and profusely smeared, blotched, and spotted with a very 

 rich reddish brown, and with a very few small faint purple clouds 

 here and there underlying the primary markings. The larger end 

 of the egg is nearly spotless, A\'hile of the remaining three-fourths 

 of the surface fully half is occupied by the markings. I have seen 

 richly-coloured Kite's eggs which, except as regards size, closely 

 resembled the egg above described, which measured 1'73 by I'bS 

 inch. 



The other two eggs of the same clutch, now in Colonel 

 Marshall's collection, are considerably larger, measuring 1-82 and 

 1-83 inch bv 1-35. 



Aecipiter melanoscMstus, Hume. The Dove-Hawlc. 



Aecipiter melasohistus, Hume ; Hume, Hough Draft iV. Sf E. no. 

 24 bis. 



This species, or race, as some will doubtless consider it, appears 

 to be confined to the Himalayas. My own specimens are all from 



