22 
Birds of (he Jhclion District. 
September 10. — A Brahmiiiy Kite (Haliastur indus) seen hawking over 
some liood -water near the City. A freshly shot adult 
female Ked -headed Merlin sent in to me. 
One or two Crag Martins (Ptyaiioprogite concolor) 
noted flying in company with some Striated Swallows. 
The Blue -cheeked Bee -eaters {Merops pvrsicus) are 
still about. A Eufous-backed Shrike seen. 
iSSeptembcr 1 1 . — Four eggs found in a nest of the Common Babbler 
(Aigya caudata). The nest was a slight but deep cup of 
bents and grass, lined with fine roots and placed some 
three feet from the ground in the fork of a Kikur bush ; 
it was but little concealed . 
A Black-winged Kite {Elantis cacrulcus) noted. 
The first European Red -breasted Flycatcher (Siphia 
parva) of the autumn migration noted. 
A young Wandering Tree-Pie {Dcndrocitta riifa) came 
into the verandah and foolishly allowed itself to be caught, 
although it could tly well enough ; it kept on flying about 
the roof of the verandah along the cornices and apparently 
lacked the intelligence to fly out into the open ; hence I caught 
it. As it was rather too old to tame satisfactorily T al- 
allowed it to go again. 
September 13. — Starting in the early morning I drove some eight or nine 
miles over the cattle farm . The part traversed was a 
wide plain, covered with a fine crop of standing hay studded 
with bushes and occasional patches of thicker herbage mark- 
ing depressions in the ground where rain water stands . 
Needless to say this ground is a paradise for birds, as well 
as for Antelope, of which many herds were seen. Many 
migrants were noticed, including several Harriers in both 
brown and grey plumage, various kinds of Pipits, Larks, 
Wagtails, Chats, Wheatears, and Warblers. A notice- 
able feature w-as the number of immature Rollers {Coracias 
indica) seen either mounting in the air or perched on 
bushes . 
In the evening I visited the jheel, where the Crane's 
nest was found on the IGth August. The nest was empty, 
with a few pieces of broken shell lying near by, and as 
one of the Cranes rose out of the heavy vegetation it is 
probable that the young were somewhere near. 
Several Franklin's Nightjar (Caprimulgus monticola) 
wTre still haunting the ground where I found them on 
September 1st. Various pairs of Avadavats (Spnraeginthns 
anuDidava) ajjj^car to be nesting in the tufts of grass in 
the water, but I could find no nests. Several Waterhens 
allimda thloiopiis) notvd, ao well as a small Rail whiJi 
