Rditorial. 
225 
It was not possible to get a photo of the Weaver's nest 
without mutilating the bush too much, and I did not care to 
risk this till the birds were independent, fearing to drive them 
from the shelter of the bush. By the time they were fending 
for themselves, the rains and the birds has so fiatetned out the 
nest that it looked little more than a shapless mass. 
<^¥^ 
Editorial. 
A Note on the Breeding of the Hill Partridge 
■{Arbicola torque ola) Near Simla. 
" So little appears to be known regarding the breeding of this 
" common but little observed bird that it is of interest to set on record some 
" particulars of a nest which was obtained for me about 5,000ft. near 
" Mahasso, Simla, b)' a valued correspondent this year. 
" The nest was found on 25th April through the flushing of the 
■■ parent birds, but although they had betrayed the approximate where- 
" abouts of the nest, it was discovered only after a careful search; there 
were then seven eggs; on the 27th April there were still only seven eggs, 
" but eight were found the next morning. On the 2nd May it was found 
that another and last egg had been laid, making in all a clutch of nine. 
On each of these subsequent visits neither parent was seen, and the eggs 
" were invariably cold, yet from the placing of grass over the entrance 
" hole there was no doubt that the eggs were not deserted. 
" As I had insisted on complete authentication of the eggs, endeav- 
■" ours were made to snare a bird at the nest, but a first attempt with horse- 
" hair nooses was unsuccessful ; so on the 7th May a gut noose was set and 
the nest visited a second time in the evening. There had been a hail- 
" storm, and hailstones were lying thickly around; my correspondent on 
" arriving at the nest was astonished to find it completely covered over with 
" grass, and while looking at this and wondering at the reason the bird 
" suddenly bounced out and was caught in mid air in his hand; the broken 
" gut snare was then round its neck. He kept the bird and set a fresh 
" noose in the entrance, and this had been disturbed next morning, though 
■" the second bird was not caught. The eggs were then taken for me. 
" The nest is described as being built in a carefully scraped out and 
" rounded hole in a bank ; this hole measured inches in diameter. After 
" the removal of the nest, which was built carefully of, and domed with, 
grass, with an internal diameter of inches, the actual site of this nest 
was fairly open, but only a few yards away started undergrowth of the 
" type usually frequented by the Poera. Particular emphasis is laid on 
^' the fact that whenever the nest was visited the eggs were quite cold, and 
on the fact of concealing the entrance of the nest with grass whether the 
■" bird was sitting or absent. 
