188 FALCONID^. 



male I observed carrying small twigs and roots to the female, who 

 seemed the architect. This nest was begun in a large semel-tree 

 (Bomhax Jieptaphyllum), on the forked branch of one of tlie prin- 

 cipal lateral arms, and might have been 40 feet from the ground. 

 The nest \A'as about 2| feet in diameter, with the egg-cavity about 

 10 inches. The inside was lined with stuall fine roots and bruised 

 dry leaves, evidently such as had been attached to the twigs which 

 composed the body and foundation of the nest. On the 27th 

 March succeeding, the nest was again visited. The Falcons were 

 out at the time, it being about the middle of the day. On a man 

 ascending the tree, both birds quickly appeared, and the male, 

 which appeared an old adult, made the lirst swoop at the man 

 climbing, passing within a few inches of his head. The female 

 (which appeared not to have cast her nestling-plumage) then fol- 

 lowed, making her attacks with more vigour and determination. 

 We found three eggs, one addled, and two a good deal in- 

 cubated." 



The late Mr. A. Anderson wrote that " the Jugger breeds in 

 high trees, in the absence of cliffs, during January and February, 

 laying usually four eggs. In size they are intermediate between 

 those of F. peregrinus and F. idanclicus, and not unlike Hewitson's 

 plate of that bird's egg. I have never seen this Falcon build its 

 own nest on trees, but have invariably found it take possession of 

 the old nests of Oyps hengalensis, or of Milvus govinda. Generally 

 speaking, it is not even re-lined ; but it is worth mentioning that 

 one nest examined in my presence, in which the eggs were tole- 

 rably well incubated, was comfortably and warmly lined with 

 several handfuls of small feathers." 



He subsequently wrote : — "In allusion to my former notes re- 

 garding this Falcon taking possession of old nests of Gyps benga- 

 letisis, Milvus govinda, &c., I may mention that my friend Mr. 

 Spry, on the 15th January, took an egg of F. jugger from the nest 

 of 0. calvus, flushing the Vulture off her nest. I have only once 

 taken five eggs of this Falcon, and on this occasion the bird had 

 selected a ledge in a high mud-cliff which overlooked the Ganges. 

 Within 2 or 3 feet of the head of the sitting bird was suspended 

 the nest of Arachnechthra asiatica, which contained two eggs." 



I once noticed a curious trait in this bird. On the 2nd of 

 March, 1866, near Soj, in the Mynpoorie district, I found a nest 

 of these birds on what had been a large peepul-tree, but which, 

 owing to the continual cutting of its branches for the elephants of 

 the Chohan Eajahs of the neighbourhood, had become a gaunt, 

 white, spectre-like thing with two or three huge nearly bare arms, 

 each with a dense cluster of leafy twigs near the extremity, and 

 smaller similar clusters at odd angles of the branches. The tree 

 stood solitary in the midst of a wide tract of land overflowed 

 during the rains, but at the time I speak of waste and parched, 

 \^ ith no other vegetation for a good mile in any direction but 

 patches of down-trodden, withered rush. The nest was in one of 

 the highest clusters. The male was sitting on the broad bare 



