Birds of the Jhchm District. 
and scolded me vigorously, and took them home io rear, 
as this species makes a delightful cage bird . 
Several Eain Qu;iil (Cotiirnix corovintidcJkn^ flushed 
in some sugar cane . 
July 21. — Driving round the cattle farm I noticed a curious black 
and white bird sitting out in the middle of a wide stretch 
of fields. From its attitude it looked like a small Cor- 
morant or Duck (I had no glasses with me) and once it 
jumped up into the air whirling its wings like a wounded 
Teal trying in vniu to fly. I proceeded to investigate, 
and again saw the curious jump performed, but as I ap- 
proached it disappeared from view as if squatting ; liow- 
cver, it must have run as it rose eventually some distance 
from where it had been first seen, and a luckv long shot 
from my companion's gun brought it low. Even then I 
was under the impression that we had secured some curious 
kind of Duck, and hence was much surprised to piik up a 
beautiful male Lesser Floriken or Likh Bustard (Sijphcrtis 
aiiriia). The species is very rare here, but one was seen 
(I am told) a*bout the same place in August, 1912. Its 
range proper appears to begin nbout nt Delhi, n hundred 
miles south of this. 
Sevcriil Rain Qunil (CotiirnlT coromnndclica ) ;ibout. 
A Small Butt on-Quail {Turnix diifisHViicri) proved to be 
a nesting bird. 
A single adult Rose-coloured Pastor (Pastor yo>i(;us) 
noted feeding with some Myiiahs ; a flock of about a dozen 
also seen. Several White Ibis and a White-necked Stork. 
Pied-crested Cuckoos (Cocrystcs jacohinvs) have been very 
noticeable to-day. 
July 22. — There arc numl>ers of Egrets breeding in the .Tail g:u-don 
at present, in some very lofty Peepul trees, the nests 
being mostly situated at the tops of the very highest boughs . 
The Cattle Egret {Bubulciifs coromandus) is the most nu- 
merous species, but there are a few lattle Egrets (Herod fas 
garzcfta), and I also noticed one or two Night Herons 
(Nyclicorax cirhrufi) which may have owned some of the 
nests. The Pond Herons {Ardvoln gray!) for the most 
part nest in n clump of small Kikur and Shisham trees 
situated round a pond . I sent a man up to examine some 
of the nests and he reported about an equal number of nests 
with young and with hard-set eggs almost ready to hatch. 
A very large number of Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters (Mer- 
ops persicus) noted sitting about on some telegraph wires 
at dusk, in the same place where I saw numbers in May, 
although they seemed to disappear in the interim. All birds 
seen appeared to be adults. 
A few Rain Quail heard and seen. A single Rufous- 
