architectural merit. The blue rock-pigeons
(_Columba intermedia_) are busily prospecting for nesting sites. In
some parts of India, especially in the Muttra and Fatehgarh districts,
these birds nest chiefly in holes in wells. More often than not a
stone thrown into a well in such a locality causes at least one pigeon
to fly out of the well. In other places in India these birds build by
preference on a ledge or a cornice inside some large building. They
often breed in colonies. At Dig in Rajputana, where they are sacred in
the eyes of Hindus, thousands of them nest in the fort, and, as Hume
remarks, a gun fired in the moat towards evening raises a dense cloud
of pigeons, "obscuring utterly the waning day and deafening one with
the mighty rushing sound of countless strong and rapidly-plied
pinions." According to Hume the breeding season for these birds in
Upper India lasts from Christmas to May day. The experience of the
writer is that April, May and June are the months in which to look for
their nests. However, in justice to Hume, it must be said that
recently Mr. A. J. Currie found a nest, containing eggs, in February.

In April the green pigeons pair and build slender cradles, high up in
mango trees, in which two white eggs are laid.

The songster of the house-top--the brown rock-chat (_Cercomela
fusca_)--makes sweet music throughout the month for the benefit of his
spouse, who is incubating four pretty pale-blue eggs in a nest built
on a ledge in an outhouse or on the sill of a clerestory window. This
bird, which is thought by some to be a near relative of the sparrow of
the Scriptures, is clothed in plain brown and seems to suffer from St.
Vitus' dance in the tail. Doubtless it is often mistaken for a hen
robin. For this mistake there is no excuse, because the rock-chat
lacks the brick-red patch under the tail.

April is the month in which to look for two exquisite little
nests--those of the white-eye (_Zosterops palpebrosa_) and the iora
(_Aegithina tiphia_). White-eyes are minute greenish-yellow birds with
a conspicuous ring of white feathers round the eye. They go about in
flocks. Each individual utters unceasingly a plaintive cheeping note
by means of which it keeps its fellows apprised of its whereabouts. At
the breeding season, that is to say in April and May, the cock sings
an exceedingly sweet, but very soft, lay of six or seven notes. The
nest is a cup, about 2-1/2 inches in diameter and 3/4 of an inch in