190 FALCONIDJi, 



neighbourhood of the nest, in each case, innmnerahle Sea-fowl, 

 Kestrels, Jackdaws, &c., breed peacefully, while the Falcon's nest 

 contains evidence that these same species form their young ones' 

 food. But the going out and coming in of the Falcons causes no 

 alarm among the tenant,s of the face of the chff for 6 miles or 

 more. I have seen them skimming about under a Falcon, in a 

 position to stoop, apparently in the most tempting and enticing 

 manner. But let a Falcon from the other end of the Island 

 appear, and a scream of alarm from thousands of tenements brings 

 out Falcon and Tiercel, and the clamour subsides as they swoop 

 away over the sea to thrash the stranger, sometimes for miles, and 

 on their return no, ornithologist, not on the look-out, would be 

 aware that a Falcon was approaching. The same is the case with 

 all Hawks that have taken up their abode at a place. I kept a 

 Shaheen at hack here for some time, but I never knew, while 

 sitting in my house, by any commotion among my neighbours' 

 Pigeons and the Crows, &c., which inhabit the neighbourhood, 

 when my own Falcon was going out or coming home, at least 

 after she had been at liberty for a week, while I always had 

 instant notice of the approach of a wild Peregrine or Shaheen." 



Mr. Scrope Doig writes from Sind : — " Found over a dozen 

 nests of this species between the 10th and 26th February. They 

 Mere all, with one exception, built on tombs situated out on the 

 bare plains. The one exception was when the nest was built in 

 the fork of a pollarded kundy tree." 



Colonel E. A. Butler remarks ; — " I took a nest of the Luggar 

 Falcon near Deesa on the 2-ith March, containing three fully- 

 fledged young birds. It was placed on the top of a tree about 

 30 feet from the ground, and as usual consisted of a good-sized 

 structure of dead sticks. One of the old birds invariably sat on 

 the tree close to the nest, keeping guard whilst the other was 

 away hunting for food, dashing at any bird of any size that ven- 

 tured within a radius of about 200 yards. Most of these birds 

 breed with us in January and February." 



He continues : — "Feb. 7th, ls78, visited a nest on the church- 

 steeple, Karachi, and took two fresh eggs. The nest was budt 

 on one of the ledges of the tower, about 40 feet from the summit, 

 with the lightning-conductor running through the centre of it to 

 prevent its being blown away by the high winds, and having been 

 used for many years, and annually renewed, was an immense 

 stick-structure as large as a Kite's nest. 



" On the 23rd idem I revisited it, and took another fresli egg. 

 The birds then took possession of a Kite's nest on the station 

 flagstaff, about 200 yards off, and laid two more eg£;s, which I also 

 secured. On the 24th idem I took three shghtly-incubated eggs 

 from another nest in the same neighbourhood, built on a ledge on 

 the side of a low cliff about 30 feet from the ground, and within 

 arm's reach of the top of the cliff. I found one or two othei 

 nests during the same month, one on the church at H}drabad, 

 and another on a tree in the same neighbourhood." 



