FALCO SEVERTTS. 
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forest which furnish it with a supply of small birds, on which it is said chiefly to feed. Mr. Bligh's specimen 
was shot hawking after dragonflies; and no doubt the bird feeds as well on lizards, which form a large 
proportion of the food of most Indian Raptors, from the Hawk-Eagle downwards. It is said to be crepuscular 
in its habits. Mr. F. Bourdillon, in ‘ Stray Feathers ' (vol. iv. p. 354), says that its cry is shriller and weaker 
than that of the Kestrel ; he is also of opinion that it breeds in Travancore. Wherever it does it must be in remote 
or inaccessible forests, for nothing appears yet to be known concerning its nest and eggs. Jerdon remarks that 
it nidificates on trees ; and Mr. Thompson, as quoted in Mr. Hume's c Rough Notes/ says that it breeds in 
Kumaon. He writes, “These birds regularly resort to the dense forests on the lower ranges of Kumaon and 
Gurhwal about April. In June I watched a female bearing a small bird away, but could not find where she 
took it to. I infer from this that she must have had a nest of fledged young ones, as there were lots of ne 
trees standing close to where she passed me, and where she might have stopped to pluck her quarry. Later 
observations confirm me that the bird breeds about April in our lofty and dense forests." 
Nidijication .— The Toorumtee nests exclusively on trees, making its own nest, and building a fresh one every year. 
It is neatly built of both stout and fine twigs closely put together, and lined with fine roots and vegetable fibres, mixed 
sometimes with straw, feathers, or pieces of rag, which are firmly interwoven with the body of the nest. It is generally 
fixed in the fork of the top branch of a large tree, such as a mango, peepul, or tamarind, where these are to be found ; but 
where they do not exist, it is placed in small trees, sometimes not more than 10 feet above the ground. The eggs are 
usually four in number; but sometimes three and five are laid. They vary from “ a pale yellowish brown, with just a 
few reddish-brown specks, to a nearly uniform dark brownish red, obscurely mottled and blotched with a somewhat darker 
red ” Sometimes there is a ring of feeble blotches round the large end, and at others a zone of darker markings round 
the middle. Thev average 1’66 inch in length by 1-27 in breadth. The breeding-season lasts from January till May. 
Q 
