Birds of the Jhclum District. 
237 
sido The most notable fac-t about tlic spccirs is its habit 
ol' perching on trees, more especially to roost, when several 
birds may be found together on a bough, or in an old 
Crow's nest. The male grows a strong s])ur and is very 
pugnacious, being kept ver3' commonly by the natives i'or 
fighting. 
The splendid Black Partridge {Francolinus vulfjaris) 
ia here much less common, there only being some three or 
four pairs on the grass farm where they are inrorniaily 
preserved. Two Pygmy C'ornioiants {Phnlncrocorax jivani- 
cus) noted at a pond, also what was probably a Wood 
Sandpiper . 
May 4 -Took two half -incubated eggs from a nest of the White -eyed 
Buzzard (Biitasiur tcusa). The nest was a ragged unlincd 
structure of sticks placed some twenty feet up ni'ar the 
trunk of a Shisham tree on the canal bank ; the bird was 
very excited and kept calling and settling in the tree vvhil.st 
I was climbing. This curious little bird of prej- is here, 
I believe, a resident, although as far north as .Jhelum it is 
a summer visitor onlj' ; it i:; a sluggish rather cowardly 
bird, usually to be seen sitting on a telegraph pole, or a 
low bush, occasionally dropping to the ground to capture 
a lizard, beetle, or grasshopper — its usual prey. The eggs 
are a dull skim-milk colour and are two or three in number. 
Some dozen Wood Sandpipers and Common Sandpipers 
were observed feeding in a freshly irrigated field ; and a 
single Wood Sandpiper was seen early in the day. These 
were, of course, migratory birds, 
A pair of Small Minivets (Ptricroctus j^rcyiinns) noted. 
May 5. — A pair of Hoopoes have three eggs in a hole in the wall some 
four feet from the ground in one of my putrhouscs. . The 
nest is a fitting collection of cotton waste, tiny ibits of rags 
and the like, plentifully besprinkled with old droppings 
and very smelly . When I was examining the nest in which 
the female was sitting, the male tried to make up his mind 
to attack me ; he flew up and hovered within a foot or 
two of me several times. There are few pairs about now 
and from the white on their crests they would seem to be 
Upupa cpops. 
I also found a beautiful little nest of the Common 
Wood Shrike {Tephrodornis pondicerianus) built at the 
extreme top of a large Kikur tree ; it contained only one 
egg. A few days later this nest was destroj-ed in a dust 
storm . , . . , 
Several Wood Sandpipers ami a pair of little Ring 
Plover (Arylalitis dubia) were noted feeding in the field 
mentioned yesterday. 
; ; A Single White-necked Stork (Dissitra episcopus) seen, 
