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Show 1875.] RAPTORIAL BIRDS OF INDIA, 19 large trees, where Pigeons and Parrots are in the habit of roosting, while the Jugger delights in dry plains. 16. LlTHOFALCO CHICOJUERA, Daud. At Jelallabad, in the Shabjehanpore district, I came across three pairs of these Falcons, which were nesting within sight of each other ; two of them had built on trees only a few yards apart. These nests contained one anel two eggs each ; and although I halted for the express purpose of obtaining full clutches, the Crows forestalled me. One nest escaped from these marauders, and enables me to add something new in the domestic economy of the Toorumptee ; for in this instance she had appropriated an old nest of the Crow. 23. MICRONISUS BADIUS, Gm. In modification of any former experience, I have now to record the occurrence of a slightly marked egg from a clutch of three. Five out of six nests which were taken in my presence this last summer were built on the parasitical shrub (Loranthus globosus 1) which grows to such perfection on mango trees. The branches of this so-called mistletoe radiate sidewards and upwards to a considerable height above the parent tree, from a large excrescence or knob, thus forming, as it were, the outer structure of a ready made nest. Viewed from below the nest looks about the size of what the common Crow would build ; but on examining one I had cut down (the parasitical plant was four feet above the tree), it was clear that the nest itself was particularly small, and so clumsily made as to fall to pieces on being removed from the knob which supported it. A better situation for a nest than the centre of a clump of this parasite could hardly be conceived. *25. ACCIPITER VIRGATUS, Temm. On the 3rd of October last a Shikaree brought me a living Hawk, which he had just captured with bird-lime, and which is undoubtedly referable to this species. It is the first capture of this interesting bird that I have heard of in this part of the country. The person from whom I got it tells me that the Besrah is frequently trapped early in the winter. They certainly must pass through the plains on their southward migration, as Wallace gives it from Malacca, Java, and Sumatra, and Hume has recently recorded it from the Andamans. Not wishing to be too confident of my own identification, I have waited till the acquisition of more examples, and the opinion of ornithologists who had more experience than myself as regards A. virgatus, could be brought to bear on the subject. A pair kindly sent to me by Mr. Mandelli, of Darjeeling (and in precisely the same plumage as my own), leaves no further room for any doubts. Mr. Hume, too, who expressed a wish to see the birds I called "A. virgatus" has returned them to me with an expression of opinion to the effect that he fully concurs with me in my identification. 2* |
