196 rALCONIKyE. 



Mr. "W. Theobald maKes the following remark oa the breeding 

 o£ this bird in the valley of Cashmere : — " Lays in the third week 

 of April ; eggs, six in number, blunt ovato-pyriform ; measuring 

 from 1-51 to r68 inch in length, and from 1'22 to 1-27 inch in 

 breadth ; colour, pale reddish brown, freckled and blotched with 

 brownish red. Nest, hole in serai wall of Thanna, south of 

 Blramgaala, Shahabad, and valley generally." 



The late Dr. F. Stoliczka remarked that " Tiniiunculus alau- 

 darms is common all through the JVorth-western Himalayas, on the 

 southern side as well as in West Tibet. I found this common 

 European Hawk breeding near Chini in narrow cre\ices of rocks. 

 The eggs are dirty white, mottled and irregularly spotted with reddish 

 brown. The young birds vary extremely in colour of their 

 plumage ; but the old ones are in every way identical with those 

 from Europe." 



From DhurumsaJa the late Major Cock wrote : — " This bird 

 remains with us all the year round, although it retires higher up the 

 mountain during the month of May. 1 noticed a pair of birds about 

 a precipice some two or three times, and concluded that they 

 built there. On the 27th of May I went with a rope, and found 

 that there were three young ones, only a few days old, in a niche 

 in the precipice that was overhung with grass, rendering the 

 entrance to the nest difficult to be seen. This nest was on the 

 mountains, at a height of 7000 feet above the sea-le^'el, and I 

 doubt their breeding lower down, though an officer assured me he 

 saw a Kestrel breeding on a cliff on the banks of the Beas in 

 February. I found another nest, at about 8000 feet elevation, on 

 the 27th of May, with one egg in it. I had watched the birds 

 pairing some days before, and \sith the help of a rope managed to 

 secure the solitary egg. On the 5th of June I sent up a party, 

 who got three more eggs out of this same nest. Two of the eggs, 

 the largest and smallest, measured 1-55 by 1"16 inch and 1-35 by 

 1'] -finch." 



Mr. E. Thompson sends me the following : — " The Kestrel 

 breeds in this country, preferring the shelving of a rock to auy 

 other situation. I have seen the nest and young on the precipices 

 of the Sewaliks. A dozen nests might be pointed out on the 

 precipices overhanging the KossiUa river between Khyrna and the 

 Lat Bridge. In the valley here noted, it may be seeii breeding in 

 company with the Xeophron. 



" At Pooree, in the interior of Gurhwal, a Kestrel carried ofi a 

 large piece of a pugree belonging to one of my shikarees and took 

 it off to its nest, whence it yvas recovered by the feUow letting 

 himself down by a rope. I was witness to the whole transaction. 

 At Xynee Tal, two pairs breed yearly ; one on the western preci- 

 pices, the other on the south-eastern, not far from where I live." 



Mr. Thompson remarks that this species is " common durino- 

 the cold weather in all parts of the Centi-al Provinces. I doubt if 

 these birds leave the mountainous parts of these provinces for 

 breeding purposes, as I have seen couples banging about near 



