308 
Birds of the JJielum District. 
busy building at the tops of the high Mango -trees in the 
rest-house compound. 
Seeing a Roller (Coracias indica) leave a hole about 
ten feet from the ground in the brickwork of an old ruined 
mosque, I looked in to find that the hole contained 2 eggs 
and 2 newly hatched young ; there was no nest and the hole 
was about two feet long and horizontal in direction . 
Pied Mynahs (Stiirnopafitor contra), Taylor-birds, and 
Grass -warblers (Cisticola cursitans) are more common here 
than in Hissar . 
June 4. — At Hansi. Four eggs taken from a nest of Siunioixtstor 
contra which was a large shapeless mass of coarse grasses, 
rags, feathers, and strips of maize leaves, placed near the 
summit of a large Kikur tree. The birds were present 
but the eggs were all addled . This may have been due to 
the great heat or in some way connected with a terrific 
storm which took place last month, as I found bad eggs 
in one or two other occupied nests about this time. 
In a flooded maize field I .<?aw a large Bced Warbler, 
possibly Acroccphalus stentorcus . 
A Brown Fish Owl (Kcti<pa zri/lonensis) was haunting 
the rest-house garden, perching in the huge Peepul trees. 
A Crested Honey Buzzard (Pernis crista! us) seen. 
June 5. — At Hansi, some nests of Sturnopastor contra found in thorn 
trees, by the canal ; the majority were unfinished, 
but from one I took five fresh eggs. AH the nests were 
of the same type — shapeless masses of rags, feathers, grass, 
etc. 
In a Shisham tree standing in the middle of a field, 
noticed a large nest- — a rough structure of sticks. On this 
a bird was sitting, which when flushed proved to be some 
species of Eagle. I had only my .410 collecting gun with 
mc and so failed to secure the bird either as she left the 
aust, or when she settled on the top of a large tree some 
distance away. However, I sent a man up the tree to 
iexamine the nest and as he was climbing a dark Eagle, 
similar to the bird that I had flushed, flew close by and 
settled in a neighbouring tree. Being satisfied that this 
was one of the parent birds I walked up and managed to 
secure it as it took flight. The climber reported a single 
egg, which I told him to take . This egg, which contained 
a living chick, measures 64.5 X 57.5 mm. In colour it 
is dull white with a very faint gloss, spotted, blotched^ 
and faintly streaked with reddish brown, the markings 
being mostly gathered together to form a zone jiear the 
broad end. The egg is somewhat stained. The bird secured 
was the male ; in its gullet was an entire squirrel, the head 
being in the gizzard and the tip of the tail in the throat. 
