248 aedeiDjE. 



those of all our other Indian Herons with which I am acquainted 

 by their very pale colour. In other species, and specially in 

 H. garzeita, pale varieties occur, hut in this species the eggs are 

 always pale, and I have never yet myself taken a deeply coloured 

 one. 1 have seen eggs of a rich sea-green attributed to this 

 species, but in my opinion erroneously so. These birds breed in 

 company with various other species, and, unless the nests are very 

 carefully watched, -mistakes as to the parentage of the eggs are 

 sure to occur. I have taken certainly two hundred of the eggs of 

 this species with my own hands, and they were one and all white 

 with a faint blue or green tinge, recalling in tint the eggs of 

 Astur badius or Butastur teesa. The eggs vary much in size and 

 shape, but are typically rather broad ovals, somewhat pointed 

 towards one end. Some eggs are, however, a good deal elongated, 

 some are pointed at both ends like those of a Grebe, and some eggs 

 are obtuse and symmetrical at both ends. The texture of the 

 shell is compact and fine, differing in no appreciable respects from 

 that of the other small Herons' eggs. 



In length the eggs vary from 1-6 to 1-85 inch, and in breadth 

 from 1-22 to 1-4 ; but the average of thirty-two eggs, now in 

 my collection, is 1-71 by 1'32. 



Ardeola grayi (Sykes). The Pond-Heron. 



Ardeola leuooptera {Bodd.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 751. 

 Ardeola grayi {Sykes), Hume, Bough Draft N. 8f E. no. 930. 



The Pond-Heron, perhaps one of the very commonest and most 

 famihar birds in India, breeds everywhere throughout the empire. 



Dr. Jerdon says : — " It breeds on trees, sometimes alone, some- 

 times several on the same tree, making a rough nest of sticks and 

 laying four or five pale greenish-blue eggs ; " and if we add that 

 it often also breeds in company with many of the preceding species, 

 that it not unfrequently lays six eggs, and that these are not 

 typically jpale, but pretty deep greenish blue, there is little, I think, 

 left to be said." 



With us in Upper India they lay chiefly in July and August, 

 and in Southern India within the range of the north-east monsoon 

 in December apparently. 



Colonel Butler writes :- — " The Pond-Heron breeds in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Deesa in the months of May, June, July, August, and 

 September. I found a large colony breeding on neem trees in the 

 Deesa bazaar on the 26th of May, 1876. The nests were usually 

 built upon the small branches of the trees, and consequently some- 

 what difficult to get at. They were small and built of dead sticks 

 loosely put together, looking like old Crows' nests, generally three 

 or four on one tree, sometimes more, sometimes less. I found 

 many more nests later on in June, July, August, and September, 

 but in the latter month they nearly all contained young birds. 

 Most of the nests I examined contained three eggs, but in a few 

 instances there were four." 



