The nursery is attached by means of cobweb to the beam or branch from which it hangs.  It is cosily lined with cotton or other soft material.  The hen, who alone builds the nest and incubates the eggs, enters and leaves the chamber by a hole at one side.  This is protected by a little penthouse.  The door serves also as window.  The hen rests her chin on the lower part of this while she is incubating her eggs, and thus is able, as she sits, to see what is going on in the great world without.  She displays little fear of man and takes no pains to conceal her nest, which is often built in the verandah of an inhabited bungalow.

As the month nears its end the big black crows (Corvus macrorhynchus) begin to construct their nests.  The site selected is usually a forked branch of a large tree.  The nest is a clumsy platform of sticks with a slight depression, lined by human or horse hair or other soft material, for the reception of the eggs.  Both sexes take part in incubation.  From the time the first egg is laid until the young are big enough to leave the nest this is very rarely left unguarded.  When one parent is away the other remains sitting on the eggs, or, after the young have hatched out, on the edge of the nest.  Crows are confirmed egg-stealers and nestling-lifters, and, knowing the guile that is in their own hearts, keep a careful watch over their offspring.

The kites (Milvus govinda) are likewise busy at their nurseries.  At this season of the year they are noisier than usual, which is saying a great deal.  They not only utter unceasingly their shrill chee-hee-hee-hee, but engage in many a squabble with the crows.

The nest of the kite, like that of the corby, is an untidy mass of sticks and twigs placed conspicuously in a lofty tree.  Dozens of these nests are to be seen in every Indian cantonment in February and March.  Why the crows and the kites should prefer the trees in a cantonment to those in the town or surrounding country has yet to be discovered.

Mention has already been made of the fact that January is the month in which the majority of the tawny eagles nest; not a few, however, defer operations till February.  Hume states that, of the 159 eggs of this species of which he has a record, 38 were taken in December, 83 in January and 28 in February.

The nesting season of the white-backed vulture is drawing to a close.  On the other hand, that of the black or Pondicherry vulture (Otogyps calvus) is beginning.  This species may be readily distinguished from the other vultures, by its large size, its white thighs and the red wattles that hang down from the sides of the head like drooping ears.

The nest of this bird is a massive platform of sticks, large enough to accommodate two or three men.  Hume once demolished one of these vulturine nurseries and found that it weighed over eight maunds, that is to say about six hundredweight.  This vulture usually builds its nest in a lofty pipal tree, but in localities devoid of tall trees the platform is placed on the top of a bush.