222 
Letters , Announcements, fyc. 
for more. * * * I have heard of a small Falcon caught here 
called the f Keytal Turoomtee 9 and used in hawkings but not 
Hypotriorchis chicquera ; it may be Hobby or Merlin : but I am 
promised some shortly. I am now going to hawk Houbara 
with the Cherrug, and to do a little more of the desert-country. 
I hope to get Grus leucogeranus, dead or alive.” 
Dr. David Scott, in a letter to Mr. Blyth, dated “Umballah, 
November 4th, 1865,” says :— 
“ This year I had two Hoopoes* \Upupa epops?~\ nests in my 
verandah ; and after the hens began to sit I never saw them 
outside at all, but the two males fed them regularly inside the 
nest. When Colonel Tytler came down some time last month, 
I mentioned that I was almost positive that the hen Hoopoe 
never left her nest during the period of incubation. He said at 
once that this was curious, as you believed the Hoopoe was 
nearest in structure to a species of Luceros in which this was the 
case. As you are aware, I have not the very slightest pretension 
to be an ornithologist in any way beyond mere observation; I 
was therefore quite ignorant of what Col. Tytler mentioned, as 
well as Dr. Jerdon directly I told him. 
“ These two pairs of Hoopoes were so tame and used to seeing 
me sitting in the verandah, that my presence never disturbed 
them in the least; and I twice saw the males tread the females 
just at the bottom of the steps, and within ten yards of where I 
was sitting. I was therefore thoroughly familiar with them, 
and can assert most positively that, for a number of days, I 
never saw the female of either pair out. I did not pay any atten¬ 
tion at first to the circumstance of there being only two flying 
about, until I observed both males going up to the nests with 
< ljpE 3 fem. their bills, giving a call, and then putting their heads 
inside for the hens to take the food. The feeding-times were 
morning and evening,-at regular hours, the former about seven 
or eight o’clock, and again in the afternoon, about four o’clock. 
“ I have seen the males getting the gpats, &c., close under 
the very steps I was sitting on, and almost within two yards of 
my chair, then flying up, giving a call, and coming down again 
directly the food was taken. The nests were at opposite ends of 
the verandah, and only one of the broods came out. 1 saw some 
