DETAILED LIST OF BIRDS. 295 
June to the end of August, but in Central and Southern 
India, they sometimes lay as early as March. The nests are 
placed in large trees,, peepul [Ficus religiosa), burgot [Ficus 
indica), tamarind, sheeshum [Dalbergia sissoo) being I think 
their favourites. The nests are rarely above from twenty to 
thirty feet from the ground, and vary from fourteen to twenty 
inches in diameter, and from 4'' to 8'' in depth. They 
are densely built of twigs and small branches, and have a 
considerable central depression, sometimes thinly lined with 
down and feathers, and sometimes almost filled with straw, 
leaves, and feathers, in amongst which the eggs are sunk as 
if packed for travelling. The full number of eggs is four : 
rarely, three more or less incubated eggs are met with. They 
vary much in shape, but there are three predominant types. 
The one a regular somewhat flattened ellipse with perfectly 
similar obtuse ends ; another, a broad oval, pointed and 
pyriform towards one end, and the third, a long narrow oval, 
more or less pointed towards both ends. 
The shells are dull and without gloss, when perfectly fresh 
of a faintly bluish white, but becoming stained and soiled as 
incubation proceeds, so that an egg nearly ready to hatch off 
is very commonly of a yellowish earthy brown colour 
throughout. They are quite devoid of any natural markings. 
Held up against the light the shell of freshly laid eggs is a 
pale delicate green, while in much incubated eggs it is a 
dingy yellowish green. The eggs, as might be expected, are 
usually considerably smaller than those of the common 
Stork, and average somewhat less than those of the Black 
Stork. In size they vary from 2-3 to 2'66 in length, and 
from 1"75 to 1*92 in breadth, but the average of fifty eggs 
measured was 2*5 by 1*83. 
923. Ardea cinerea, Linn. 
Very common about Srinagar in Kashmir, where there is 
a large heronry. [G. if.] 
The eggs of this species are well known. In the plains of 
India the birds breed according to season and locality, any 
time from March to August. [^A. O. H,} 
