Birds In and About the S/ at ion. 
337 
I fancy thai it is only tlie oldrr and hardier hirds thai ven- 
ture any hcij^lil into tlic hills. In roininon wilii my friend 
and ff'low-nienihiM-, Mr, J). Dowar, I iiavc often seen hens 
fighting for the coeks, l)ut of recent years with us the cocks 
have outnumbered the hens and now the cocks fight for the 
hens. I' is on\\ of recent years tliat I liave seen adult 
red-tailed cocks. I might mention that I have never seen 
adult (Oiks in the plains at Lahore and Kohat. 
The nest shoidd be searciied for near, not ne.^v'^ssarily 
oN'cr V, aler, w here there is a tangle of overhanging branches 
with a clear space beneath. If there is a stoutish branch 
hanging lower down than the others with any small twig 
springing upwards from it near the tip. there will you find 
the nest, some distance below the tangle. A solitary stem 
from the ground to the tangle is sometimes used a.nd some- 
times the nest is in a regular tree, but I look on the first 
as a typical site. In any case it is on a solitary tudg, either 
thorny as the rose or medlar, or slippery as the willow, and 
always there is a clear space inmiediately round and above 
it. There is no attempt and no need for concealment except 
from human enemies; its position guarantees safety. One's 
first nost is ridiculously hard to see; it is too ob\ious; one 
looks for something more difficult. One's second nest 
hits one in the eye. Both sexes sit, and both are very con- 
spicuous on the nest. The cock is more often seen on the 
nest a: the hen is rather shy and slips off, the cock, if any- 
where in the vicinity, taking her place at once and sitting 
very tight. I have several times snapped the cock sitting at 
three o" four yards off, all failures by the way. T.he nest is 
a cup made of fine fibre covered with cobweb worked round 
the Inain branch and the oft-shoot twig. Some ha\e quite a 
solid bi.se. -Most look rather fragile but are in reality quite 
strong. The nest is very small for the size of the bird. 
The clutch is usually four, sometimes three; even three 
nearly fledged birds distinctly overcrowd the nest. The 
breeding season is from May to August. 1 ha\ e found eggs 
in the latter month. 
1 have several times attempted to have young birds 
reared for me, not having had time to attempt the feat my- 
