In size the eggs of L. erythronotus appear to approach those of the English Red-backed Shrike, though they average perhaps somewhat smaller.

In length they vary from 0.85 to 1.05 inch, and in breadth from 0.65 to 0.77 inch, but the average of more than one hundred eggs measured is 0.92 by 0.71 inch.

Lanius caniceps.

This closely allied species, the Pale Rufous-backed Shrike, breeds only, so far as I yet know, in the Nilghiris, Palanis, &c.

It lays from March to July, the majority, I think, breeding in June.

Its nest is very similar and is similarly placed to that of the preceding, from which, if it differs at all, it only differs in being somewhat smaller.

It lays from four to six eggs, slightly more elongated ovals than those of L. erythronotus, taken as a body, but not, in my opinion, separable from these when mixed with a large number.

Captain Hutton, however, does not concur in this: he remarks:—"This species, which is very common in Afghanistan, occurs also in the Doon and on the hills up to about 6000 feet. At Jeripanee I took a nest on the 21st June containing five eggs, of a pale livid white colour, sprinkled with brown spots, chiefly collected at the larger end, where, however, they cannot be said to form a ring; interspersed with these are other dull sepia spots appearing beneath the shell. Diameter 0.94 by 0.69 inch, or in some rather more. Shape rather tapering ovate.

"The differences perceptible between this and the last are the much smaller size of the spots and blotches, the latter, indeed, scarcely existing, while in L. erythronotus they are large and numerous; there is great difference likewise in the shape of the egg, those of the present species being less globular or more tapering. The nest was found in a thick bush about 5 feet from the ground, and was far more neatly made than that of the foregoing species; it is likewise less deep internally. It was composed of the dry stalks of 'forget-me-not,' compactly held together by the intermixture of a quantity of moss interwoven with fine flax and seed-down, and lined with fine grass-stalks. Internal diameter 31/2 inches; external 6 inches; depth 11/2 inch, forming a flattish cup, of which the sides are about 11/2 inch thick. The depth, therefore, is less by 1 inch than in that of the last-mentioned nest."

Mr. H.R.P. Carter tells me that "at Coonoor, on the Nilghiris, this species breeds in April and May, placing its nest in large shrubs, orange-trees, and other low trees which are thick and leafy. The nest is externally irregular in shape, and is composed of fibres and roots mixed with cotton-wool and rags; in one nest I found a piece of lace, 6 or 8 inches long; internally it is a deep cup, some 4 inches in diameter and 2 in depth. The eggs are sometimes three in number, sometimes four."

Mr. Wait says that "the breeding-season extends from March to July in the Nilghiris; the nest, cup-shaped and neatly built, is placed in low trees, shrubs, and bushes, generally thorny ones; the outside of the nest is chiefly composed of weeds (a white downy species is invariably present), fibres, and hay, and it is lined with grass and hair; there is often a good deal of earth built in, with roots and fibres in the foundation of this nest; four appears to be the usual number of eggs laid."

Miss Cockburn, from Kotagherry, also on the Nilghiris, tells me that "the Pale Rufous-backed Shrike builds in the months of February and March and forms a large nest, the foundation of which is occasionally laid with large pieces of rags, or (as I have once or twice found) pieces of carpet. To these they add sticks, moss, and fine grass as a lining, and lay four eggs, which are white, but have a circle of ash-coloured streaks and blotches at the thick end, resembling those on Flycatchers' eggs. They are exceedingly watchful of their nests while they contain eggs or young, and never go out of sight of the bush which contains the precious abode."

Mr. Davison remarks that "this species builds in bushes or trees at about 6 to 20 feet from the ground: a thorny thick bush is generally preferred, Berberis asiatica being a favourite. The nest is a large deep cup-shaped structure, rather neatly made of grass, mingled with odd pieces of rag, paper, &c., and lined with fine grass. The eggs, four or five in number, are white, spotted with blackish brown, chiefly at the thicker end, where the spots generally form a zone. The usual breeding-season is May and the early part of June, though sometimes nests are found in April and even as late as the last week in June, by which time the south-west monsoon has generally burst on the Nilghiris."

Dr. Fairbank writes:—"This bird lives through the year on the Palanis and breeds there. I found a nest with five eggs when there in 1867, but have not the notes then made about it."

Captain Horace Terry informs us that this Shrike is a most common bird in the Palani hills, found everywhere and breeding freely.

Mr. H. Parker, writing from Ceylon, says:—"A pair of these Shrikes reared three clutches of young in my compound (two of them out of one nest) from December to May, inclusive; but this must be abnormal breeding."

Colonel Legge writes in his 'Birds of Ceylon':—"This bird breeds in the Jaffna district and on the north-west coast from February until May. Mr. Holdsworth found its nest in a thorn-bush about 6 feet high, near the compound of his bungalow, in the beginning of February.... Layard speaks of the young being fledged in June at Point Pedro, and says that it builds in Euphorbia-trees in that district."

The eggs of this species, sent me by Captain Hutton from the Doon and by numerous correspondents from the Nilghiris, are indistinguishable from many types of L. erythronotus, and indeed the birds are so closely allied that this was only to be expected. It is unnecessary to describe these at length, as my description of the eggs of L. erythronotus applies equally to these.

In size the eggs, however, vary less and average longer than those of this latter species. In length they range from 0.93 to 1 inch, and in breadth from 0.7 to 0.72 inch, but the average of twenty was 0.95 by 0.7 inch.

477. Lanius tephronotus (Vigors). The Grey-backed Shrike.

Lanius tephronotus (Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 403. Collyrio tephronotus, Vigors, Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 258.

As far as I yet know, the Grey-backed Shrike breeds, within our limits, only in the Himalayas, and chiefly in the interior, at heights of from 5000 to 8000 feet above the sea-level. In the interior of Sikhim, in the Sutlej Valley near Chini, in Lahoul, and well up the valley of the Beas, they are pretty common during the summer; they lay from May to July, and the young are about by the end of July or the early part of August. I have never seen a nest, although I have had eggs and birds sent me from both Sikhim and the Sutlej Valley. There were only two eggs in each case, but doubtless, like other Shrikes, they lay from four to six.

Mr. Blanford remarks that L. tephronotus was "common at Lachung, in Sikhim, 8000 to 9000 feet, in the beginning of September, but three weeks later all had disappeared. Many of those seen were in young plumage, with hair on the breast, back, and scapulars."

Colonel C.H.T. Marshall records from Murree:—"This species much resembles L. erythronotus, but the eggs differ considerably, being more creamy white, blotched and spotted (more particularly at the larger end) with pale red and grey. They are the same size as those of the preceding species. Lays in the beginning of July at the same elevation as L. erythronotus."

As to the size I cannot concur with the above.

Colonel Marshall has since kindly sent me two of the eggs above referred to; they are clearly, it seems to me, eggs of Dicrurus longicaudatus, or the slightly smaller hill-form named himalayanus, Tytler.

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:—"A nest found at about three feet from the ground in a thick bush at Bheem Tal, at the edge of the lake, contained five fresh eggs on the 28th May: the nest was a coarsely built massive cup; the eggs were about the same size as those of L. erythronotus, but the spots were larger and less closely gathered than is usual with that species."

Dr. Scully says:—"The Grey-backed Shrike is common in the Valley of Nepal from about the end of September to the middle of March; it is the only Shrike found in the Valley during the winter season, but it migrates further north to breed. In December it was fairly common about Chitlang, which is higher than Kathmandu, but seemed to be entirely replaced in the Hetoura Dun by L. nigriceps. It frequents gardens, groves, and cultivated ground, perching on bushes and hedges and small bare trees. It has a very harsh chattering note, louder than that of L. nigriceps, and appears to be most noisy towards sunset, when its cry would often lead one to suppose that the bird was being strangled in the clutches of a raptor."

Mr. O. Moeller has kindly furnished me with the following note:—"On the 7th June, 1879, my men brought a nest containing four fresh eggs, together with a bird of the present species; I send two of the eggs: perhaps you recollect the eggs of L. tephronotus, in which case you of course will be able to see at a glance if I am correct. I have never come across such large eggs of L. nigriceps, the eggs of which also as a rule have well-defined spots and no blotches; the two other eggs the nest contained measure 1 by 0.74, and 1.01 by 0.76 inch."

The eggs of this species are of the ordinary Shrike type, moderately elongated ovals, a little compressed towards the small end. The shell extremely smooth and compact, but with scarcely any perceptible gloss. The ground-colour pale greenish or yellowish white; the markings chiefly confined to a broad irregular ill-defined zone round the large end—blotches, spots, specks, and smears of pale yellowish brown more or less intermingled with small clouds and spots of pale sepia-grey or inky purple. In some eggs a good number of the smaller markings and occasionally one or two larger ones are scattered over the entire surface of the egg, but typically the bulk of the markings are comprised within the zone above referred to.

In length four eggs vary from 0.97 to 1.06 inch, and in breadth from 0.76 to 0.81 inch.

481. Lanius cristatus, Linn. The Brown Shrike.

Lanius cristatus, Linn., Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 406: Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 261.

I am induced to notice this species, the Brown Shrike, although I possess no detailed information as to its nidification, in consequence of Lord Walden's remarks on this subject in 'The Ibis' of 1867. He says "Does it, then, cross the vast ranges of the Himalaya in its northern migration? or does it not rather find on the southern slopes and in the valleys of those mountains all the conditions suitable for nesting?"; and he adds in a note, "It is extremely doubtful whether any passerine bird which frequents the plains of India during the cooler months crosses to the north of the snowy ranges of the Himalaya after quitting the plains to escape the rainy season or the intense heat of summer."

Now, it is quite certain, as I have shown in 'Lahore to Yarkand,' that several of our Indian passerine birds do cross the entire succession of Snowy Ranges which divide the plains of India from Central Asia, and it is tolerably certain from my researches and those of numerous contributors that L. cristatus breeds only north of these ranges. True, Tickell gives the following account of the nidification of this species in the plains of India:—

"Nest found in large bushes or thickets, shallow, circular, 4 inches in diameter, rather coarsely made of fine twigs and grass. Eggs three, ordinary; 29/32 by 21/32: pale rose-colour, thickly sprinkled with blood-red spots, with a darkish livid zone at the larger end.—June." But Tickell, though he warns us at the commencement of his paper (Journal As. Soc. 1848, p. 297) of the "attempts at duplicity of which the wary oologist must take good heed," gives the egg of the Sarus as plain white, and says he has seen upwards of a dozen like this, those of the Roller as full deep Antwerp blue, those of Cypselus palmarum as white with large spots of deep claret-brown, and so on, and it is quite clear that his supposed eggs and nest of L. cristatus belonged to one of the Bulbuls.

Of more than fifty oologists who have collected for me at different times in hills and plains, from the Nilghiris to Huzara on the one side, and to Sikhim on the other, not one has ever met with a nest of L. cristatus. This is doubtless purely negative evidence, but it is still entitled to considerable weight.

From the valleys of the Beas and the Sutlej, as also from Kumaon and Gurhwal, these Shrikes seem to disappear entirely during the summer, and they are then, as we also know, found breeding in Yarkand. It is only in the latter part of the autumn that they reappear in the former named localities, finding their way by the commencement of the cold season to the foot of the hills.

Mr. R. Thompson, to quote one of many close observers, remarks:—"This bird appears regularly at Huldwanee and Rumnugger at the foot of the Kumaon Hills during the cold weather, confining itself to thick hedges and deep groves of trees. Where it goes to in summer I cannot say, it certainly does not remain in our hills."

484. Hemipus picatus (Sykes). The Black-backed Pied Shrike.

Hemipus picatus (Sykes), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 412; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no 267.

I quite agree with Mr. Gray that this bird is a Flycatcher and not a Shrike; no one in fact who has watched it in life can have any doubt on this subject; but yet, except for their being more strongly marked, its eggs have no doubt a very Shrike-like character, at the same time that they exhibit many affinities to those of Rhipidura albifrontata and other undoubted Flycatchers.

Mr. W. Davison says:—"About the first week in March 1871, I found at Ootacamund a nest of this bird placed in the fork of one of the topmost branches of a rather tall Berberis leschenaulti. For the size of the bird this was an exceedingly small shallow nest, and from its position between the fork, its size, and the materials of which it was composed externally, might very easily have passed unnoticed; the bird sitting on it appeared to be sitting only on a small lump of moss and lichen, the whole of the bird's tail, and as low down as the lower part of the breast, being visible. The nest was composed of grass and fine roots covered externally with cobweb and pieces of a grey lichen, and bits of moss taken apparently from the same tree on which the nest was built: the eggs were three in number. The tree on which this nest was built was opposite my window, and I watched the birds building for nearly a week; and, again, when having the nest taken, the birds sat till the native lad I had sent up put out his hand to take the nest. I am absolutely certain, as to the identity of this nest and these eggs."

The eggs brought me by Mr. Davison, of the authenticity of which he is positive, are very Shrike-like in their appearance; they are rather elongated ovals, somewhat obtuse at both ends, and entirely devoid of gloss. The ground-colour is a pale greenish or greyish white, and they are profusely blotched, spotted, and streaked with darker and lighter shades of umber-brown; in both eggs these markings are more or less confluent along a broad zone, which in one egg encircles the larger, in the other the smaller end: these eggs measure 0.7 by 0.5 inch and 0.69 by 0.49 inch.

Captain Horace Terry writes from the Palani Hills:—"Pittur Valley. I had a nest brought me which from the description of the bird must, I think, have belonged to this species. Nest rather a shallow cup placed in a thorny tree about ten feet from the ground, neatly made of grass and moss, lined with fine grass and a few feathers, covered a great deal on the outside with dusky-coloured cobwebs, 2.5 inches across and 1.5 inch deep inside, and 3.25 inches to 3.5 inches across, and 2.25 inches deep outside: contained five very much incubated eggs; shape and marking exactly like those of L. caniceps, having a well-defined zone round the larger end; size about the same or rather smaller than those of Pratincola bicolor."

485. Hemipus capitalis (McClelland). The Brown-backed Pied Shrike.

Hemipus capitalis (McClell.), Hume, cat. no. 267 A.

I must premise that to the best of my belief there is no such thing as H. capitalis, McClell., in India, or, in other words, that this latter name is a mere synonym of H. picatus.[A]

[Footnote A: Mr. Hume would probably now agree with me that H. picatus and H. capitalis are distinct species. H. picatus, however, is not confined to Southern India, but occurs along the Terais of Sikhim and Nepal, and throughout Burma. H. capitalis occurs on the Himalayas from Gurwhal to Assam. There is little doubt that Captain Hutton's nest did not really belong to a Pied Shrike.—ED.]

Mr. Blyth remarks, Ibis, 1866:—"Hemipus picatus. Under this name two very distinct species are brought together by Dr. Jerdon: H. capitalis (McClell., 1839; H. picaecolor, Hodgson, 1845) of the Himalaya, which is larger, with proportionally longer tail, and has a brown back; and H. picatus (Sykes) of Southern India and Ceylon, which has a black back. Mr. Wallace has good series of both of them.

"Hemipus capitalis has accordingly to be added to the birds of India."

Now, out of India, Mr. Wallace may have got hold of some brown-backed Hemipus, which is really distinct, but nothing is more certain (I speak after comparison of a large series from Southern India with a still larger, gathered from all parts of the Himalayas) than that the Southern and Northern Indian birds are identical, and that in both localities the males have black and the females brown backs.

Capt. T. Hutton says:—"On the 12th of May I procured a nest of this bird in the Dehra Doon; it was placed on the ground at the base of an overhanging rock, and was composed entirely of the hair of horses and cows and other cattle, which had doubtless been collected from the bushes and pasture-lands in the vicinity. There were four eggs of a pale sea-green, spotted with rufous-brown, and forming an indistinct and nearly confluent ring at the larger end. The bird had begun to sit.

"This curious little species is not uncommon in the outer hills up to 5000 feet in the summer months."

The three eggs sent me by Captain Hutton appear to differ somewhat conspicuously from any other eggs of the Laniidae that I have yet seen. The ground-colour is a very pale greenish white, and they are moderately thickly freckled and mottled all over, but most densely towards the large end (where, in one egg, there is a well-marked, though somewhat irregular, zone), with pale brownish pink and very pale purple. In shape the eggs are very regular, rather broad ovals, and appear to have but little or no gloss. They vary in length from 0.66 to 0.7 inch, and in breadth from 0.53 to 0.55 inch.

Dr. Jerdon's evidence, so far as it goes, tallies with Captain Hutton's account. He says:—"I obtained its nest once at Darjeeling, made of roots and grasses, with three greenish-white eggs, having a few rusty-red spots."

From Sikhim, Mr. Gammie writes:—"At page 178 of 'Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds' (Rough Draft), Captain T. Hutton's description of the nest and eggs of Hemipus picatus is given, and at page 179 that of Mr. W. Davison. The two descriptions differ so radically that, as there remarked, one of the two must be in error. Permit me to record my limited experience of the nesting of this bird.

"Common as it is in Sikhim I have but once taken its nest, and that in the first week of May, at 4000 feet elevation. The nest, which is well described by Mr. Davison, is made of black, fibry roots, sparingly lined with fine grass-stalks, and covered outwardly with small pieces of lichens bound to the sides with cobwebs. It is a very neat diminutive cup, measuring externally 1.9 inch across by an inch deep; internally 1.5 by half an inch.

"The whole nest, although quite a substantially built structure, is barely the eighth part of an ounce in weight. It was placed on the upper side of a horizontal branch close to its broken end, about fifteen feet from the ground, and contained two fresh eggs. I send you the nest and an egg, both of which will, I think, be found on comparison to agree exactly with those taken by Mr. Davison."

Mr. Mandelli has sent me two nests of this species, found on the 15th August above Namtchu in Native Sikhim. They were placed about two feet from each other, each in a small fork of the branches of a small tree which was situated in heavy forest. Each contained two fresh eggs. The nests are very similar, but one is rather larger and less tidily finished-off than the other. Both are shallow cups, miniatures of some of the nests of Dicrurus, composed of excessively fine grass-stems, coated exteriorly all round the sides with cobwebs, and, in the case of one of them, plastered exteriorly with tiny films of bark and dry leaves like some of the nests of the Pericrocoti. Both have a little soft silky vegetable down at the bottom of the cavity. The one nest is about two inches, the other about two and a half inches in diameter exteriorly, and both are a little less than three quarters of an inch high outside. The cavity in the one is about an inch and a half, in the other about an inch and three quarters in diameter, and both are about half an inch deep.

Eggs received from Sikhim are broad ovals, glossless, with greenish-white grounds, profusely speckled and mottled with slightly varying shades of brown, here and there intermingled with dull, pale inky purple. The markings are densest generally round the broadest part of the egg. They measured from 0.61 to 0.7 in length, and from 0.51 to 0.55 in breadth.

486. Tephrodornis pelvicus (Hodgs.). The Nepal Wood-Shrike.

Tephrodornis pelvica (Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 409; Hume. cat. no. 263.

The Nepal Wood-Shrike is a permanent resident throughout Burma, Assam, Cachar, and the sub-Himalayan Terais and Ranges to which the typical Indo-Burmese fauna extends. Still we have no information as to its nidification, and the only egg of the species that I possess was extracted from the oviduct of a female shot by Mr. Davison on the 26th of March, 1874, near Tavoy in Tenasserim. The egg is rather a handsome one—very Shrike-like in its character, but rather small for the size of the bird. In shape it is a broad oval, very slightly compressed towards one end. The shell is fine and compact, but has no gloss. The ground is white, with the faintest possible greenish tinge only noticeable when the egg is placed alongside a pure white one, such as a Bee-eater's for instance. The markings are bold, but except at the large end not very dense—spots and blotches of a light clear brown, and (chiefly at the large end) somewhat pale inky grey. Where the two colours overlap each other, there the result of the mixture is a dark dusky brown, so that the markings appear to be of three colours. Fully half the markings are gathered into a broad conspicuous but very broken and irregular zone about the broad end. The egg measured only 0.86 by 0.69.

Subsequently to writing the above Mr. Mandelli sent me a nest of this species found at Ging near Darjeeling on the 27th April. It contained four fresh eggs, and was placed on branches of a very large tree about 22 feet from the ground. The tree was situated at an elevation of about 3000 feet. The nest is a large massive cup, 5 inches in exterior diameter and rather more than 3 in height. It is composed of tendrils of creepers and stems of herbaceous plants, to many of which the bright yellow amaranth flowers remain attached; and all over the sides and bottom masses of flower-stems of grass with the white silky down attached are thickly plastered, which, intermingled as this white down is with the glistening yellow flowers, produces a very ornamental effect, and looks as it the bird had really had an eye to decoration.

Inside the nest is entirely lined with very fine grass-stems. The nest is everywhere about an inch thick, and the cavity about 3 inches in diameter by nearly 2 deep.

Eggs said to belong to this species kindly sent me by Mr. Mandelli, whose men obtained them on the 27th April, are very Shrike-like in their appearance. In shape they vary from broad to ordinary ovals, generally somewhat compressed towards the small end. The shell is white but almost glossless. The ground-colour is a dead white, and they are profusely speckled and spotted with yellowish brown, paler in some eggs, darker in others. In all the eggs the markings are by far the most numerous towards the large end. Two eggs measure 0.95 and 0.91 in length by 0.74 and 0.72 in breadth respectively.

487. Tephrodornis sylvicola, Jerdon. The Malabar Wood-Shrike.

Tephrodornis sylvicola, Jerd., Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 409; Hume, cat. no. 204.

Major M. Forbes Coussmaker has furnished me with the following note on the nidification of the Malabar Wood-Shrike:—"I took the nest of this bird on April 13th, 1875. It was composed of fine roots and fibres, neatly woven into a shallow cup-like nest, secured to the fork of a horizontal bough and fixed in its place with cobweb, and covered externally with lichen corresponding to that on the bough. It measured 4.2 inches in diameter externally, and 2.4 internally and .7 deep. Both parent birds were shot. The eggs two in number, rather round, coloured white with faint inky and brown spots."

One of these eggs is a very regular oval, the shell fine but glossless, the ground-colour white, with a faint greenish tinge; round the large end is a pretty conspicuous zone of black or blackish-brown and pale inky purple spots and small blotches, and similar spots and blotches of the same colour are somewhat sparsely scattered over the rest of the surface of the egg. The egg measured 0.98 by 0.73.

488. Tephrodornis pondicerianus (Gm.). The Common Wood-Shrike.

Tephrodornis pondiceriana (Gm.), Jerd B. Ind. i, p. 410; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 265.

The Common Wood-Shrike lays during the latter half of March and April. This at least is, I think, the normal season, but Mr. W. Blevutt found a nest at Hansee on the 2nd of June containing two fresh eggs.

I have only taken one nest myself (though I have had many others sent me), and that was on the 2nd of April at Chundowah in Jodpoor, Rajpootana. The nest was in the fork of a ber tree (Zizyphus jujuba), on a small horizontal bough, about 5 feet from the ground. It was a broad shallow cup, somewhat oval interiorly, with the materials very compactly and closely put together. The basal portion and framework of the sides consisted of very fine stems of some herbaceous plant about the thickness of an ordinary pin. It was lined with a little wool and a quantity of silky fibre; exteriorly it was bound round with a good deal of the same fibre and pretty thickly felted with cobwebs. The egg-cavity measured 2.5 inches in diameter one way and only 2 the other way, while in depth it was barely .86. The exterior diameter of the nest was about 4 inches and the height nearly 2 inches. It contained three fresh eggs, of a slightly greyish-white ground, very thickly spotted and speckled with yellowish brown, dark umber-brown, and a pale washed-out inky-purple. In all, the spots were thickest in a zone round the large end, where they became more or less confluent. I have, however, a large series of these nests, and taking them as a whole, although much more massive, they remind one no little of those of Rhipidura albifrontata and Terpsiphone paradisi and even Aegithina tiphia. They are broad shallow cups, measuring internally 21/4 inches across and about 7/8 inch in depth. They are placed in a horizontal fork of a branch, and are composed of vegetable fibre and fine grass-roots, thickly coated externally with cobwebs, by which also they are fixed on to branches, and lined internally with silky vegetable down or fibre. Externally their colour always approximates closely to the bark of the branch on which they are placed; they are not thin, basket-like structures like those of Aegithina or Rhipidura, but are fully 1/2 inch thick at the sides and probably 3/4 inch thick at the bottom.

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:—"The Common Wood-Shrike builds in the Saharunpoor district in the latter half of March, the young being hatched early in April. The bird is common; but owing to the small size and bark-like colour of its nest, the latter is very difficult to find. On the 8th April I fired at a specimen and missed it; it then flew off and settled in a fork of another tree about 30 feet from the ground. On looking carefully with an opera-glass, I found that it was sitting on its nest. I drove it off and shot it. The nest was very small and shallow, cup-shaped, and wedged in between two small boughs at their junction, and not appearing either above or below. The egg-receptacle was 21/4 inches in diameter. The nest was made of grass and bits of bark, beautifully woven together and bound with cobwebs, and exactly resembling the boughs between which it was placed, or, I might say, wedged in. The eggs, four in number, were slightly set; they were small for the bird, and of a rather round oval shape; the colour was a creamy-yellow ground, thickly spotted and blotched with the different shades of brown and sienna, the bulk of the spots tending to form a zone near the thick end, as in the typical form, of the eggs of the Laniidae and a number of faint purple blotches underlying the zone."

Major C.T. Bingham says:—"I have only found three nests of this bird, and these at Delhi. At Allahabad it was not very common. It is a difficult nest to find, being generally well hidden in the forks of leafy trees. All three nests I got were of one type—shallow saucers, made of vegetable fibre matted together into a soft felt-like substance. In two of the nests I found three and in the third one egg. These are thickly spotted and blotched with brown and a washed-out purple, on a pale greyish-yellow ground. The average measurements of the seven eggs are—length 0.77, breadth 0.61."

Colonel E.A. Butler writes from Sind:—

"Hyderabad, 19th April, 1878.—Noticed two young birds scarcely able to fly; fresh eggs were laid, therefore, about the beginning of March. On the 20th April near the same place I found a nest containing young birds. It consisted of a neat little cup composed of dry grass smeared all over exteriorly with cobwebs, and fixed in a fork of one of the outer branches of a large babool-tree about 10 feet from the ground. The nest was very small for the size of the bird, and had I not seen the old bird on it. I should have taken it for a nest of Rhipidura albifrontata."

The late Captain Beavan remarked that this bird "appears to come to the Maunbhoom District for the purpose of breeding. I procured the nest and eggs early in April, and the young were nearly fledged by the 20th of that month; they appear to come year after year to particular localities to breed.

"Several nests were brought me from the neighbourhood of Kashurghur both in 1864 and 1865, whereas none were seen elsewhere. The nest is very small for the size of the bird, and the material of which it is composed closely resembles the bird's plumage in colour. The nest is round and very shallow, something like a Chaffinch's, being very neatly made; diameter inside 2 inches, depth 1 inch; composed of grey fibres, bits of bark, grass, and the like, cemented with spider's web. The eggs are two in number, greenish white, spotted with brown and slate-coloured dots, which in most specimens form a well-defined zone round the thickest part of the egg, leaving both ends without marks. Length of the egg .75 inch; breadth .59 inch. This bird was not observed in Maunbhoom except during the breeding-season."

Mr. G.W. Vidal, writing from the South Konkan, remarks:—"Common, as also at Savant Vadi. Nest found with three hard-set eggs on the 18th February, low down in a mango-tree. Nest a very neat compact cap of grasses and fibres, woven throughout with spiders' webs. Eggs greyish white, with brown and inky-purple spots."

Dr. Jerdon remarks:—"The nest has been brought to me in August at Nellore, chiefly made of roots and lined with hair; and the eggs, three in number, were greenish white with large brown blotches."

Major M.F. Coussmaker sends me the following note from Mysore:—"I took the nest of this bird on April 16th. It was composed of fine roots and fibres closely woven into a compact nest, secured to a horizontal bough with cobweb and covered externally with lichen to match the tree. It measured in diameter 4.1 inches externally and 2.2 internally and .8 deep. The parent bird was shot from the nest.

"The nest contained two eggs, white with brown spots and markings. They were so broken when I got them that no reliable measurements could be taken."

Lastly, Mr. Gates writes from Pegu:—"Nest with three fresh eggs on the 3rd March near Pegu."

The eggs are very Shrike-like in appearance, and many of them are perfect miniatures of the eggs of Lanius lahtora, but some of them have a more uniformly brown tint than any of this latter species that I have yet met with. The ground-colour is generally either a very pale greenish white or a creamy-stone colour, and more or less thickly spotted and blotched with different shades of yellowish and reddish brown; many of the markings are almost invariably gathered into a conspicuous, but irregular and ill-defined, zone near the large end, in which zone clouds of subsurface-looking, pale, and dingy purple, not usually observable on any other portion of the egg, are thickly intermingled. The texture of the shell is fine and close, but scarcely any gloss is ever perceptible. Occasionally the eggs are very faintly coloured, and have a dull white ground, while the markings consist of only a few spots and specks of very pale purple and pale rust-colour confined to a zone near the large end.

In length the eggs vary from 0.69 to 0.8 inch, and in breadth from 0.57 to 0.65 inch; but the average of a dozen eggs is 0.75 by 0.61 inch nearly.

490. Pericrocotus speciosus (Lath.). The Indian Scarlet Minivet.

Pericrocotus speciosus (Lath.). Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 419; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 271.

Captain Hutton records that the Indian Scarlet Minivet breeds both on the Doon and in the hills overlooking it, to an elevation of about 5000 feet. He says:—"The nest is generally placed high up on the branch of some tall tree, often overhanging the side of a fearful precipice. On the 6th and 17th of June I procured two nests in ravines opening upon the Doon, one of which contained four, and the other five eggs, of a dull-white colour, sparingly spotted and blotched with earthy brown, more thickly so at the larger end, where they form an open ring of spots; other small blotches of a fainter colour are seen beneath the shell.

"It is a curious fact that in the latter nest, out of the five eggs three were ringed at the larger end, and the other two at the smaller end. The nest is rather coarsely made, being very thick at the sides, and the materials not neatly interwoven; it is composed externally of dried grasses and the fine stalks of various small plants, interspersed with bits of cotton and grass-roots, and lined with the fine seed-stalks of small grasses."

I am not at all sure that there is not some mistake here. The nest described is rather that of L. erythronotus than of any of the Pericrocoti, and but for the excellent authority on which the above rests, I should certainly not have accepted it.

This species breeds in the forests of the central hills of Nepal; recording to Mr. Hodgson's notes and drawings they begin laying about April, and lay three or four eggs, which are neither described nor figured. The nest is a beautiful deep cup externally about 3.25 inches in diameter, and rather more than 2 inches high, composed of moss and moss-roots lined internally with the latter, and entirely coated exteriorly with lichen and a few stray pieces of green moss firmly secured in their places by spiders' webs. The nest is placed in some slender branch between three or four upright sprays. This, I may note, is just the kind of nest one would have expected this Large Minivet to build.

The only specimens, supposed to be the eggs of this species, that I possess I owe to Captain Hutton. They closely resemble the eggs of L. erythronotus, but are perhaps shorter, and hence look broader than those of this latter. They are slightly bigger than the eggs of L. vittatus. In shape they seem to be typically a slightly broader oval than those of any of our true Shrikes, but elongated and pointed examples occur. Their ground-colour is a very pale greyish white, thickly spotted all over the large end, and thickly dotted elsewhere, with specks, spots, and tiny blotches of pale yellowish brown and pale inky-purple. Compared with the eggs of the other Pericrocoti, they are very dingily coloured. The eggs are devoid of gloss. I am doubtful about these eggs.

In length they vary from 0.88 to 0.93 inch, and in breadth from 0.72 to 0.75 inch; but the average of five eggs is 0.9 by 0.72 inch.

494. Pericrocotus flammeus (Forst.). The Orange Minivet.

Pericrocotus flammeus (Forst.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 420; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 272.

The Orange Minivet lays, I believe, in June and July on the Nilghiris. I have never taken a nest myself, but I have received several, with a few words in regard to them, from Miss Cockburn.

The nests are comparatively massive little cups placed on, or sometimes in, the forks of slender boughs. They are usually composed of excessively fine twigs, the size of fir-needles, and they are densely plastered over the whole exterior surface with greenish-grey lichen, so closely and cleverly put together that the side of the nest looks exactly like a piece of a lichen-covered branch. There appears to be no lining, and the eggs are laid on the fine little twigs which compose the body of the nest.

The nests are externally from 3 to 31/4 inches in diameter, and about 11/2 inch deep, with an egg-cavity about 2 inches in diameter and about 3/4 inch in depth. Some, however, when placed in a fork are much deeper and narrower, say externally 21/2 inches in diameter and the same height; the egg-cavity about 13/4 inch in diameter and 11/4 inch in depth.

Miss Cockburn notes that one nest was found on the 24th of June on a high tree, the nest being placed on a thin branch between 30 or 40 feet from the ground. It contained a single fresh egg, which was broken in the fall of the branch, which had to be cut. This egg, the remains of which were sent me, had a pale greenish ground, and was pretty thickly streaked and spotted, most thickly so at the large end, with pale yellowish brown and pale rather dingy-purple, the latter colour predominating.

Another egg which she subsequently sent me, obtained on the 17th of July, is a regular, moderately elongated oval, a little pointed towards one end. The shell is fine, but glossless. The ground is a delicate pale sea-green or greenish white, and it is rather sparsely spotted and speckled with pale yellowish brown. Only one or two purplish-grey specks are to be detected on this egg; it measures 0.9 by 0.67.

Mr. J. Darling, junior, sends me the following note:—"I had the good fortune to find a nest of the Orange Minivet at Neddivattam, about 6000 feet above the level of the sea, on the 5th September, 1870. It was placed on a tall tree near the edge of a jungle and was built in a fork, about 30 feet from the ground.

"The nest was built of small twigs and grasses, and covered on the outside with lichens, moss, and cobwebs, making it appear as part and parcel of the tree. I noticed it merely from the fact of seeing the bird sitting on her nest, and even then could not make up my mind, and came away. Being of an inquisitive nature, next day I went again and saw the bird in the same place, so I climbed up and managed to pull the nest towards me with a hook, and took two eggs, one of which I send you.

"In August 1874 at Vythory I saw a bird sitting on her nest, and watched her rear and take away her brood, but could not get at the nest."

An egg sent me by Mr. Darling is very similar to the eggs sent me by Miss Cockburn, except that the brown markings are rather more numerous, especially in a broad zone round the large end, and that with these a good many pale purple or lilac spots or specks are intermingled. It measures 0.88 by 0.68 inch.

495. Pericrocotus brevirostris (Vigors). The Short-billed Minivet.

Pericrocotus brevirostris (Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 421; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 273.

The Short-billed Minivet breeds in the Himalayas at elevations of from 3000 to 6000 feet in Kumaon, and again in Kulu and the valley of the Sutlej. It lays in May and June, building a compact and delicate cup-shaped nest on a horizontal bough pretty high up in some oak, rhododendron, or other forest tree. I have never seen one on any kind of fir-tree.

Sometimes the nest is merely placed on, and attached firmly to, the upper surface of the branch; but, more commonly, the place where two smallish branches fork horizontally is chosen, and the nest is placed just at the fork. I got one nest at Kotgurh, however, wedged in between two upright shoots from a horizontal oak-branch. The nests are composed of fine twigs, fir-needles, grass-roots, fine grass, slender dry stems of herbaceous plants, as the case may be, generally loosely, but occasionally compactly interlaced, intermingled and densely coated over the whole exterior with cobwebs and pieces of lichen, the latter so neatly put on that they appear to have grown where they are. Sometimes, especially at the base of the nest, a little moss is attached exteriorly, but, as a rule, there is nothing but lichen. The nest has no lining. The external diameter is about 21/2 inches, and the usual height of the nest from 11/2 to 2 inches; but this varies a good deal according to situation, and the bottom of the nest, which in some may be at most 1/4 inch thick, in another is a full inch. The sides rarely exceed 1/4 inch in thickness. The egg-cavity has a diameter of about 2 inches, and a depth of from 1 to 1.25 inch.

Five seems to be the maximum number of eggs laid, but I have now twice met with three, more or less incubated, eggs.

Mr. Hodgson notes:—"May 16th: At the top of the great forest of Sheopoori, secured a nest built near the top of a kaiphul tree, and laid on a thick branch amongst smaller twigs. The nest is about 2 inches deep and the same in diameter: inside it is 1.5 inch deep; it is made of paper-like bits of lichen welded together with spiders' webs, and with a lining of elastic fibres. It is the shape of a deep soap-stand, open at the top of course. It contained two eggs of a bluish or greenish-white ground, much spotted with liver colour, especially near the large end, where the spots are clustered into a zone."

Dr. Scully, writing also from Nepal, says:—"During the breeding-season (May and June) this Minivet is found in forests on the hills up to an elevation of 7500 feet. A nest was found in the Sheopoori forest on the 17th June, which contained two very young birds and one egg."

The eggs of this species that I have seen are moderately broad ovals, as a rule, very regular in their shape, and scarcely compressed at all towards the lesser end. The shell is fine and satiny, but the eggs have little or no real gloss. The ground-colour is a dull white, sometimes slightly tinged with pink, sometimes with green, and they are richly and profusely blotched, spotted, and streaked, most densely, as a rule, towards the large end, with brownish red and pale purple. Most eggs exhibit a more or less conspicuous, though irregular, zone round the larger end.

The eggs vary in length from 0.71 to 0.8 inch, and in breadth from 0.54 to 0.6 inch.

499. Pericrocotus roseus (Vieill.). The Rosy Minivet.

Pericrocotus roseus (Vieill.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 422; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 275.

The only one of my contributors who appears to have taken the eggs of the Rosy Minivet is Colonel C.H.T. Marshall. Mr. R. Thompson says:—"They breed in the warmer valleys of Kumaon, up to an elevation of some 5000 feet, in May and June;" but he adds: "have never got down the nests."

Colonel Marshall, writing from Murree, says:—"The Rosy Minivet builds a beautifully little shallow cup-shaped nest, the outer edge being quite narrow and pointed. The external covering of the nest is fine pieces of lichen fastened on with cobwebs. It was found on the 12th of June, and contained three fresh eggs, white, with greyish-brown spots and blotches sparsely scattered about the larger end; the length is 0.8 by 0.55 inch; 5000 feet up."

The nest, which I owe to this gentleman, is externally a short section of a cylinder, rather than a cup, the walls standing up outside almost perpendicularly. It is 2.5 inches in diameter and nearly 1.75 in height. The rim of the nest is 1/4 inch wide, and the cavity, a shallow cup, 2 inches wide by scarcely an inch deep; the walls of the nest increase in thickness as they approach the base.

Externally the whole surface is entirely covered by small scales of lichen, firmly bound into their respective places by gossamer threads; internally the nest is a very loosely put together basket-work of excessively fine twigs and grass-stems not thicker than common needles. A morsel or two of moss have become involved in the fabric, as well as two fine blades of grass; but there is no lining, and the eggs are obviously laid upon the soft loose basket frame of the nest.

The egg which accompanied the nest is a regular oval, slightly compressed towards one end. The ground-colour is pale greenish white entirely devoid of gloss. The egg is richly blotched, spotted, and speckled (most densely so towards the larger end) with reddish brown and greenish purple, there being two conspicuously different shades (a much darker and a much lighter, the latter of which appears like subsurface tints) of each of these colours. This egg measures 0.82 by 0.6 inch nearly.

Another egg of the same clutch was less richly coloured, the markings being merely brown, with scarcely a perceptible reddish tinge, and dull mostly inky, but here and there somewhat reddish, purple. The markings, too, were fewer in number, but there was a more marked tendency for these to form a zone about the larger end.

In another clutch the markings were almost entirely confined to a dense zone round the larger end about a third of the way up from the middle of the egg. In this zone they were so densely set as to be quite confluent, and they consisted of yellowish brown and inky purple.

Mr. J.R. Cripps found the nest of this Minivet in the Bhaman tea-garden, in the Dibrugarh District of Assam, on the 31st May, 1879. The nest contained three eggs, and was placed on the upper side of a large lateral branch of a tree that grew on the main garden road, about 15 feet from the ground.

Seven eggs of this bird vary in length from 0.75 to 0.86, and in breadth from 0.58 to 0.6.

500. Pericrocotus peregrinus (Linn.). The Small Minivet.

Pericrocotus peregrinus (Linn), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 423; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 276.

Our Small Minivet lays during the latter half of June (as soon, in fact, as the rains set in), and throughout July and August. I believe it breeds pretty well all over India and Burma.

The nest is small and neat, and done up generally like a Chaffinch's, to resemble the bark of the tree on which it is placed.

The nests that I have seen have been invariably placed at a considerable height from the ground in the fork of a branch, most commonly, I think, a mango-tree, though I have occasionally noticed them in other trees.

The nest is a small moderately deep cup, with an internal cavity about 1.7 inch to 1.9 in diameter, and nearly an inch in depth. The sides of the nest are about 3/8 inch thick, and the thickness of the bottom of the nest varies according to the shape of the fork chosen, whether obtuse or acute-angled. In the former case the bottom of the nest is sometimes not above 1/4 inch in depth. In the latter case, it is sometimes as much as an inch in thickness. It is composed of very fine, needle-like twigs (with at times here and there a few feathers) carefully bound together externally with cobwebs, and coated with small pieces of bark or dead leaves, or both, so that looked at from below with the naked eye it is impossible to distinguish it from one of the many little excrescences so common, especially on mango-trees. There appears to be rarely any regular lining, a very little down and cobwebs forming the only bed for the eggs, and even this is often wanting. Sometimes a few tiny dead leaves or a little lichen will be found incorporated in the nest, and occasionally, but rarely, fine grass-stems take the place of very slender twigs.

Three is, I believe, the normal number of the eggs. I extract a couple of old notes I made in regard to the nests of this species:—"August 5th.—Took three eggs of this bird, shooting the two old birds at the same time. The tree was a mango, the nest was in the fork of a branch, some 40 feet from the ground, built interiorly with very small twigs, with here and there a very few feathers intermixed, and was exteriorly coated with fine flakes of bark held in their place by gossamer threads. It was cup-shaped, with an interior diameter of 1-7/8 by 3/4 inch.

"The eggs had a slightly greenish-white ground, thickly spotted and speckled, and towards the larger end blotched, with somewhat brownish red; the markings showing a decided tendency to form a zone round, or cap at the larger end."

"Allygurh, August 27th.—Another beautiful little nest in a mango-tree high up, a tiny cup about 11/2 inch internal diameter by 3/4 inch deep, woven with very fine twigs, and exteriorly coated with tiny fragments of bark and dead leaves firmly secured in their places with gossamer threads and cobwebs. It contained two fresh eggs; a pale slightly greenish-white ground, richly speckled and spotted and sparsely blotched with a purplish and a brownish red, the markings greatly predominating towards the larger end."

Mr. F.R. Blewitt, detailing his experiences in Jhansie and Saugor, says:—"Breeds in June and July. The tamarind-tree is by preference chosen by this bird for its nest; at least the three I saw were all on tamarind-trees. The nest, cup-shaped, is a compactly made structure; the exterior appeared to be composed of the very fine petioles of leaves, with a thick coating all over of what looked like spider's web; attached to this web-like substance here and there, for better disguise, were the dry leaves of the tamarind-tree; the lining of very fine grass. The outer diameter of a nest may fairly be given at 2.2 inches, inner at 1.8, depth of nest 0.9. Two is the regular number of eggs, at least that was the number in the three nests I took. In colour they are of a pale greenish white, sparingly speckled on the narrower half of the egg with brownish spots, but they have on the broader half the spots more dense, and forming at the end a more or less complete cap. The feat of securing a nest is a most hazardous one, for it is always fixed close in between two delicate forks at the extreme end of a slight side-branch near to the top of the tree. On each occasion that the nest was detected the male bird was found flitting about near to it, the female all the while sitting on the eggs. On the last two occasions of finding the nests, it was this flitting to and fro of the male that attracted us; otherwise the nest, is so small that from the ground the eye can scarcely distinguish it from the branch. The bird appears to be migratory, for since the termination of the breeding-season it has disappeared from these parts."

Major C.T. Bingham writes to me:—"Although this bird is common enough both at Allahabad and at Delhi, I have found it difficult to find its nest, from the fact that it is placed at the very extreme tip of leafy branches. However, with careful watching and patience, I managed to find one nest at Allahabad and five at Delhi. The first I found on the 3rd July at Chupree near Allahabad. It contained two well-fledged young ones, that hopped out as soon as the nest was touched. Out of the five at Delhi I managed to get six eggs; three of the nests when found being empty, were afterwards deserted by the birds. Of the two nests with eggs, one contained four and the other two. The nests are tiny little cups, made of very fine grass, and coated externally with cobwebs, to which are attached bits of bark and dry leaves. The eggs are a greenish stone-colour, thickly speckled with light purple and brownish red. The earliest nest I have found was on the 21st March, on the banks of the canal at Delhi, so that the bird occasionally, at Delhi at least, lays in spring. The average of eggs I have is 0.68 in length, and 0.55 in breadth."

Colonel E.A. Butler furnishes us with the following interesting note:—"Found a nest at Belgaum, containing two fresh eggs, on the 3rd September, 1879. It was situated in the fork of one of the small outer top branches of a tall mango-tree, and was on the whole about the prettiest nest I have seen in India. It consisted of a tiny cup about 11/4 x 2 inches measured interiorly, and 1-7/8 x 21/2 inches exteriorly. Depth inside 1 inch, outside 11/2 inches from rim to proper base, excluding about an inch of lichen continued down one side of the bough below the fork in which the nest was built. It was composed, so far as I could judge after a very minute examination, almost entirely of the white lichen which grows so freely on the bark of every tree during the rains, with a few cobwebs incorporated and wound round the outside to keep it together, assimilating so perfectly with the branch upon which it was placed, which was also overgrown with the same kind of lichen, that without watching the old birds closely it never could have been discovered.

"It contained no regular lining, though a few coarse dry leaf-stems of a dark colour were encircled within. I observed the birds building first on the 21st August, and the nest from below looked then almost finished. The cock and hen worked together, flying to and fro very busily with bits of lichen picked off the branches of another tree adjoining. On the 25th I watched the nest for some time, but the birds only came to it once, and then the hen bird went on and smeared some cobwebs round the outside, at least that is what she seemed to me to be doing. On the 28th I watched it again, and although both birds were in the adjoining tree, I did not see them go to the nest. On the 31st, about 10 A.M., I found the hen on the nest, and she remained on till about 10.30, when she flew off and joined the cock, who was sitting pluming himself on a branch of the next tree the whole time she was on the nest. Immediately she joined him, he commenced catching flies and feeding her, as if she were a young bird, and eventually they both flew away together. Arriving at the conclusion that she only went on the nest to lay, I decided on taking the nest three days later, and accordingly returned for that purpose with a small boy on the 3rd Sept., and found, as I expected, the hen sitting and the cock in another tree close by.

"I sent the boy up the tree, and as he approached the nest, which was some 30 or 35 feet from the ground, the hen bird became very uneasy, moving her head from side to side, and looking down to see what was going on below. When the boy was within about 10 feet of the nest she flew off and joined the cock, after which I saw her no more. The eggs were then secured with difficulty, as the branches surrounding the nest were very thin and blown about a good deal by the wind.

"After breaking off the bough, nest and all, the boy descended. One branch of the fork in which the nest was placed was rotten, and broke off at the junction at the base of the nest as the boy was descending the tree; but the nest, which was firmly bound to it with cobwebs, remained in its place and was not injured, and I had the nest and bough beautifully painted for me by a lady friend the same day. The eggs were pale bluish green, speckled and spotted, most densely at the large end, with two shades of dusky purple, the markings of the lighter shade appearing to underlie those of the darker. On the 6th Sept., the same pair of birds commenced a new nest on another mango-tree about 20 yards off. This time it was placed in a fork of one of the small outside lateral branches about 25 feet from the ground, and resembled in every respect the first nest. On the 15th Sept., the hen bird began to sit, and on the 18th I sent a boy up the tree by means of a ladder, and secured two more fresh, eggs, similar to those already described. On this occasion the two old birds evinced signs of the greatest anxiety, the hen remaining on the nest till the boy was close to her, and, joined by the cock immediately she left it, the pair kept flying from bough to bough in the greatest possible state of excitement the whole time the nest was being taken, the hen actually once or twice going on to the nest again after she had left it, when the boy was within 3 feet of her. On examining the nest I found that one of the branches of the fork consisted of a small rotten stump, similar to the one described in the first nest, and in the bottom of both nests there were three or four small black downy feathers, intermingled with the dead leaf-stems that constituted the lining."

In his recent "Notes on Birds'-nesting in Rajpootana," Lieut. H.E. Barnes writes, "The Small Minivet breeds during July and August."

Mr. Benjamin Aitken writes:—"You say that the Small Minivet lays during the latter half of June and throughout July and August. I would therefore remark that on the 11th November, 1871, I saw several newly-fledged young ones at Poona. There could be no mistake about this, as I stood under the tree, which was a small one, and saw the young ones being fed."

Messrs. Davidson and Wenden remark that in the Deccan it is "common, and breeds in the rains."

The latter gentleman subsequently added the following note:—"In July, my men found a nest with two eggs at Nulwar, Deccan. It was built on a small branch of a tamarind-tree, 20 feet from the ground. The nest is similar to that described in the 'Rough Draft' as being found at Allyghur. The whole of the bark used on the outer coating is that of tamarind-tree, and there are a good many feathers and much down incorporated into the structure, inside and out. The eggs differ considerably in colouring. In both the ground-colour is greenish white. One is profusely speckled all over, but more thickly at the smaller end, with brownish red and a few purple blotches, whilst the other egg has the specks less numerous but larger, and chiefly on the larger end, with little or no purple, and the small end almost unsullied."

Finally, Mr. Oates records that "in Lower Pegu nests of this bird may be found from the end of April to the middle of June."

The eggs are of a rather broad oval shape, and, as is often the case even in the typical Shrikes, very blunt at both ends. The ground-colour is a pale delicate greenish white, and they are more or less richly marked with bright, slightly brownish-red specks, spots, and blotches, which, always more numerous at the large end, have a tendency there to form a mottled irregular cap. In many eggs, besides these primary markings, a number of small faint, patches and blotches of pale inky purple are observable, almost exclusively at the large end. The eggs appear to be quite devoid of gloss. I have eggs both of Copsychus saularis and Thamnobia cambaiensis, strange as it may seem, closely resembling, except in size, some types of this bird's egg; and I have one egg of Merula simillima from the Nilghiris, which, though immensely larger, so far as tint, colour, and character of ground and markings go, is positively identical with eggs that I have of this species.

In length the eggs vary from 0.6 to 0.7 inch, and in breadth from 0.5 to 0.56 inch, but the average of twenty-eight eggs is 0.67 nearly by 0.53 inch.

501. Pericrocotus erythropygius (Jerd.). The White-bellied Minivet.

Pericrocotus erythropygius (Jerd.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 424; Hume, cat. no. 277.

Mr. J. Davidson, C.S., is apparently the only ornithologist who has discovered the nest of the White-bellied Minivet. Writing on the 25th August, from Khandeish, he says:—"Yesterday I took two nests of Pericrocotus erythropygius. Both nests were like those of P. peregrinus, and were placed about 21/2 feet from the ground in a fork of a straggling thorn-bush among thin scrub-jungle. One contained 3 young birds, and one 3 hard-set eggs. I watched the nest, and found the cock sitting on the eggs, and watched him for a minute, so there is no possibility of mistake; but the eggs are not the least what I expected. They are fairly glossy, one being very much elongated, of a greenish-grey ground, with long longitudinal dashes of dark brown, as unlike Minivets' eggs as they can possibly be. They were the only two pairs I saw in a long morning walk, and the nests were easily found by watching the birds. I wish I had known the birds were breeding where they were, as by going three weeks ago I should probably have found many nests, as there are miles and miles of similar jungle, and it is barely 12 miles from Dhulia. It is very provoking. I have had great trouble trying to make the Bhils work for me. They will bring in eggs but not mark them down."

Later on, Mr. Davidson wrote:—"I happened to be staying a few days at Arvee, in the extreme south of Dhulia, and found this bird breeding there in considerable numbers. This was in the end of August (26th to 31st), and I was rather late, most of the nests containing young, and in some cases the young were able to fly. I, however, found eight nests with eggs (most of them hard-set). All the nests, which are small and less ornamented than those of P. peregrinus, were placed from 3 to 4 feet from the ground, in a small common thorny scrub. They were all placed in low thin jungle, and never where the jungle was thick and difficult to walk through. A great deal of the jungle round Arvee is full of anjan-trees, but none of the birds seem to breed in these."

The nests are elegant little cups, reminding one of those of Rhipidura albifrontata, measuring internally about 1.75 inch in diameter and 1 inch in depth, the thickness of the walls of the nest being usually somewhat less than a quarter of an inch. Interiorly the nest is composed of excessively fine flowering-stems of grasses, and externally and on the upper edge it is densely coated with fine, rather silky greyish-white vegetable fibres, in places more or less felted together. It is not ornamented externally with moss and lichen, as those of so many of the Pericrocoti commonly are, only occasionally one or two little ornamental brown patches of withered glossy vegetable scales are worked into the exterior of the nest.

The eggs are not at all like those of the other Pericrocoti with which we are best acquainted; though less densely, and even more streakily marked, they most remind me of the egg of Volvocivora, and in a lesser degree of that of Hemipus picatus.

The eggs vary in shape from rather broad to rather elongated ovals. The shell is very fine and smooth, but has scarcely any perceptible gloss. The ground-colour is greenish or greyish white, and they are profusely marked with comparatively fine longitudinal streaks of a moderately dark brown, which in some lines is more of a chocolate, in others perhaps more umber. At both ends of the egg, but especially the smaller end, the markings often become spotty or speckly, but the fine longitudinal streaking of the sides of the egg is very conspicuous.

In size the eggs vary from 0.69 to 0.71 in length, by 0.51 to 0.58 in breadth. I have measured too few eggs to be able to give a reliable average.

505. Campophaga melanoschista (Hodgs.). The Dark-grey Cuckoo-Shrike.

Volvocivora melaschistos, Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 415: Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 269.

I have never found the nest of the Dark-grey Cuckoo-Shrike. Captain Hutton tells us:—

"This, too, is a mere summer visitor in the hills, arriving up to 7000 feet about the end of March, and breeding early in May. The nest is small and shallow, placed in the bifurcation of a horizontal bough of some tall oak tree, and always high up; it is composed externally almost entirely of grey lichens picked from the tree, and lined with bits of very fine roots or thin stalks of leaves. Seen from beneath the tree the nest appears like a bunch of moss or lichens, and the smallness and frailty would lead one to suppose it incapable of holding two young birds of such size. Externally the nest is compactly held together by being thickly pasted over with cobwebs. The eggs, two in number, of a dull grey-green, closely and in part confluently dashed with streaks of dusky brown."

This species, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes and drawings, breeds in Nepal in the central districts of the hills from April to July, laying three or four eggs. The nest is a broad shallow saucer, some 4 inches in external diameter and 1.75 inch in height; it is placed in a fork where two or three slender branches divide, to one or more of which it is firmly bound with vegetable fibres and grass-roots, and is composed of fine roots and vegetable fibres, and plastered over externally with pieces of lichen and moss. The eggs are regular ovals, with a pale-greenish ground, blotched and spotted with a somewhat olivaceous brown.

A nest of this species found at Mongphoo (elevation 5500 feet) on the 15th June contained three eggs nearly ready to hatch off. The nest was placed on a nearly horizontal fork of a small branch. It is composed of very fine twigs loosely twisted together and coated everywhere exteriorly with cobwebs and scraps of grey lichen. At the lower part, which, owing to the slope of the branch, had to be thicker, it is exteriorly about an inch and a half in height. At the upper end it is only about half an inch high. The shallow saucer-like cavity is about two and a half inches in diameter and about half an inch in depth.

The eggs of this species, sent me by Captain Hutton from Mussoorie, much resemble those of Graucalus macii and C. sykesi, but they are decidedly longer than the latter, and the general tone of their colouring is somewhat duller. In shape they are somewhat elongated ovals, more or less compressed towards one end; the general colour is greenish white, very thickly blotched and streaked with dull brown and very pale purple. The markings are very closely set, leaving but little of the ground-colour visible. They have little or no gloss.

They measure 1.03 by 0.72 inch, and 0.95 by 0.68 inch.

Other eggs that I have since obtained have been quite similar, but have not had the markings quite so densely set: the secondary markings have been greyer and less purple, and several eggs have exhibited an appreciable gloss; others, again, were quite like those first described and entirely devoid of gloss. They measured 0.9 to 0.98 in length by 0.65 to 0.71 in breadth.

508. Campophaga sykesi (Strickl.). The Black-headed Cuckoo-Shrike.

Volvocivora sykesii (Strickl.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 414; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 268.

Mr. F.R. Blewitt took the eggs of Sykes's Cuckoo-Shrike many years ago. He furnishes the following note:—

"I first met with this bird in the southern part of Bundlekund. Nowhere here is it common, and I have never seen more than a pair together. It is to be found in wooded tracts of country, but more frequently among thin large trees surrounding villages. Dr. Jerdon has correctly described its restless habits, and its careful examination of the foliage and branches of trees for food. It is usually a silent bird, but during the earlier portion of the breeding-season the male bird may frequently be heard repeating for minutes together his clear plaintive notes. Each time, as it flies from one tree to another, the song is repeated. The flight is easy, slightly undulating, and the strokes of the wing somewhat rapid. In the latter end of July I procured one nest. It was found on a mowa-tree (Bassia latifolia), placed on and at the end of two small out-shooting branches. When my man, mounting the tree, approached the nest the parent birds evinced the greatest anxiety, flew just above his head, uttering all the while a sharply repeated cry. Even when one of the birds was shot the other would not leave the spot, but remained hovering about and uttering its shrill cry. The nest is slightly made, and constructed of thin twigs and roots; the exterior is covered slightly with spider's web. If we except the size, the formation of this Cuckoo-Shrike's nest is almost identical with that of Graucalus macii. I secured two eggs in the nest. In colour they are, when fresh, of a deepish green, mottled with dark brown spots; indeed the eggs, when first taken, a good deal resemble those of Copsychus saularis. The maximum number of eggs, no doubt, is three, as those I secured were fresh-laid. The bird breeds from June to August."

The nest above referred to, and now in my museum, was a very shallow, rather broad cup. The egg-cavity about 21/2 inches in diameter and about 3/4 inch deep, and the nest very loosely put together of very fine twigs, and exteriorly coated and bound together with cobwebs. The sides of the nest are about 0.6 inch thick, but the bottom is a mere network of slender twigs, not above 1/4 inch thick, and can be readily looked through.

Mr. I. Macpherson writes:—"This bird is found in the open scrub-forests of the Mysore district, but is nowhere common.

"14th May, 1880.—While passing a small sandal-wood tree a bird flew out, and on looking into the tree I found a very shallow nest at the junction of two small branches about 10 feet from the ground; the nest contained three eggs.

"Returned again in a quarter of an hour and shot the bird (the male) as it flew out of the tree. The eggs were within a few days of being hatched off.

"20th May, 1880.—While out driving this morning saw a male bird of this species fly out of a small sandal-wood tree close to the roadside. Pulled up to watch, and shortly saw the female bird fly into the tree. Got out and shot her and took the nest, which was beautifully fixed in a fork with three branches only eight feet from the ground.

"The nest contained three eggs very hard-set."

Mr. J. Davidson, C.S., remarks:—"This pretty little Cuckoo-Shrike is one of the earliest migrants in the rains, arriving about the 8th of June, and breeding all along the scrub-jungles which stretch between the Nasik and Khandeish Collectorates. It appears particularly partial to the Angan forest, and, as far as I remember, all the many nests I have seen have been in forks of angan trees. The nest is a pretty firm platform composed of fine roots; and the eggs, which much resemble those of the Magpie-Robin, are three in number."

Colonel Legge writes, in his 'Birds of Ceylon':—"With us this Cuckoo-Shrike breeds in April in the Western Province. Mr. MacVicar writes me of the discovery, by himself, of two nests last year near Colombo. One was built on the topmost branch of a young jack-tree about 40 feet high. It was very small and shallow, measuring 2.8 inches in breadth and only 0.8 inch in depth, and the old bird could be seen plainly from beneath sitting across it. The other was situated on the top of a tree about 20 feet from the ground, and was built in the same manner. The materials are not mentioned."

I have only seen two eggs of this species, sent me with the nest and parent bird by Mr. F.R. Blewitt. They are oval eggs, moderately broad and obtuse at both ends, about the same size as average eggs of Lanius vittatus. They are slightly glossy, have a pale greenish-white ground, and are thickly blotched and streaked throughout, but most densely so towards the large end, with somewhat pale brown, much the same colour as the markings on typical eggs of L. erythronotus. They measure 0.85 inch in length by 0.65 and 0.68 inch in breadth respectively. Other eggs since received from Calcutta and Mysore measure from 0.87 to 0.81 in length, and from 0.68 to 0.62 in breadth.

509. Campophaga terat (Bodd.)[A]. The Pied Cuckoo-Shrike.

[Footnote A: I cannot find any note among Mr. Hume's papers regarding the discovery of the nest of this bird. The nest may possibly have been found at Camorta (Nicobar Islands), where this species is not uncommon.—ED.]

Lalage terat (Bodd.), Hume, cat. no, 269 ter.

The eggs are quite of the Graucalus and Campophaga type, but perhaps a little more elongated in shape. Very regular, slightly elongated ovals, with scarcely any gloss on them, the ground greenish white, but everywhere thickly streaked and mottled and freckled over, most thickly about the large end, with a dull pale slightly olivaceous brown intermingled with brownish, or in some specimens faintly purplish grey. The two eggs I possess measure 0.85 and 0.87 in length, by 0.61 and 0.62 respectively in breadth.

510. Graucalus macii, Lesson. The Large Cuckoo-Shrike.

Graucalus macei, Less., Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 417; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 270.

My friend Mr. F.R. Blewitt seems to be the only ornithologist who has taken many nests of the Large Grey Cuckoo-Shrike. I never was so fortunate as to find one. He says:—"This Shrike begins to pair about May, and in June the work of nidification commences. The place selected for the nest is the most lofty branch of a tree, and is built near the fork of two outlying twigs. If this bird has a preference it would appear to be for mango and mowa trees, on which I found most of the nests. The nest is in form circular, and its exterior is somewhat thickly made; the interior is moderately cup-shaped. Thin twigs and grass-roots are freely used in its construction, while the outer part of the nest is somewhat thickly covered with what appears to be spider's web. Altogether the nest, considering the size of the birds, is of light structure. I am sorry I did not take the dimensions of each nest secured, but I sent you two very perfect ones. I found the first eggs in the beginning of July. They are of a dull lightish green, with brown spots of all sizes, more dense towards the large end. The maximum number of eggs is three. The bird breeds from June to August."

The nests which Mr. Blewitt sent me remind one a good deal of those of the Dicruri. They are broad shallow saucers, with an egg-cavity about 3 inches in diameter, and 3/4 inch in depth, composed in the only two specimens that I possess of very fine twigs, chiefly those of the furash (Tamarix orientalis). Exteriorly they are bound round with cobwebs, in which a quantity of lichen is incorporated. The nests are loose flimsy fabrics, which but for the exterior coating of cobwebs would certainly never have borne removal.

Dr. Jerdon remarks:—"I once obtained its nest and eggs. The nest was built in a lofty casuarina tree, close to my house at Tellicherry; it was composed of small twigs and roots merely, of Moderate size, and rather deeply cup-shaped, and contained three eggs, of a greenish-fawn colour, with large blotches of purplish brown."

Professor H. Littledale writing from Baroda says:—"The Large Cuckoo-Shrike is a permanent resident here. I found six nests last August near Baroda, each with one egg; and my men found a nest building in the Police Lines at Khaira on the 10th October."

Mr. J. Davidson informs us that "a pair of Graucalus macii were apparently breeding near this place (the Kondabhari Ghat). He found a nest with two young in the previous September near the same place."

Mr. G.W. Vidal, referring to the South Konkan, says:—"Common; breeds in February and March."

A nest that was placed in the fork of a bough was composed entirely of slender twigs, the petioles of some pennated-leaved tree, bound together all round the outside with abundance of cobwebs, so that notwithstanding the incoherent nature of the materials the nest was extremely firm. It is a shallow saucer quite of the Dicrurine type, with a cavity 3 inches in diameter and barely 0.75 in depth.

The eggs are typically of a somewhat elongated oval, a good deal pointed towards one end, but some are broader and more of a typical Shrike shape. The eggs are of course considerably larger than those of Lanius lahtora. The shell is compact and fine, and faintly glossy. The ground-colour is a palish-green stone-colour, greener in some, and somewhat more creamy in others. The markings are very Shrike-like, and consist of brown blotches, streaks, and spots, with numerous clouds and blotches of pale inky-purple, which appear to underlie the brown markings. The markings in some eggs are all very faint, and, as it were, half washed out, while in others they are very bright and clear. In some these are comparatively sparse and few; in others close-set and numerous, especially in a broad zone near the large end; but this zone is by no means invariably present; in fact, not above one in five eggs exhibit it. There is something in these eggs which reminds one of some of the Terns' eggs; and although, when compared with a large series of L. lahtora, individuals of this latter species may be found resembling them to a certain extent, I do not think that at first sight any zoologist would have felt sure that they were Shrike's eggs.

They vary in length from 1.12 to 1.41 inch, and in breadth from 0.8 to 0.95 inch, but the average of eight eggs is 1.26 by 0.9 inch nearly.



Subfamily ARTAMINAE.

512. Artamus fuscus, Vieill. The Ashy Swallow-Shrike.

Artamus fuscus, V., Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 441; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 287.

Mr. R. Thompson says:—"I have frequently found the nests of the Ashy Swallow-Shrike, and have watched the old birds constructing them, but never took down their eggs. Two or three pairs may always be found nesting on the long-leaved pine, as one comes up from Kaladoongee to Nyneetal and passes halfway up from the first dak chokee at Ghutgurh. They lay in May and June, constructing their nest on the horizontal extension of a main branch of some lofty tree, generally Pinus longifolia. The nest, composed of fine grasses, roots, and fibres, is a loose, only slightly cup-shaped structure, some 5 inches in diameter."

Dr. Jerdon says on the other hand:—"I have procured the nest of this bird situated on a palmyra tree on the stem of the leaf. It was a deep cup-shaped nest, made of grass, leaves, and numerous feathers, and contained two eggs, white with a greenish tinge, and with light brown spots, chiefly at the larger end. I see that Mr. Layard procured the nest in Ceylon, where this bird is common, in the heads of cocoanut trees, made of fibres and grasses, and it was probably the nest of this bird that was brought to Tickell as that of the Palm-Swift."

According to Mr. Hodgson this species begins to lay in March, the young being fledged in June; the nest is a broad shallow saucer, from 6 to 8 inches in diameter, composed of grass and roots, together with a little lichen, loosely put together, a green leaf or two being sometimes found as a lining to the nest. The nest is placed on some broad horizontal branch, where two or three slender twigs or shoots grow out of it, or on the top of some stump of a tree, or broken end of a branch, generally, at a considerable height from the ground. The eggs are figured as white, spotted and blotched almost exclusively at the large end with yellowish brown, and measuring 0.8 by 0.52 inch, but no actual measurements are recorded.

Mr. Gammie, however, himself found, and kindly sent me, a nest and eggs of this species, at Mongpho near Darjeeling, at an elevation of about 3500 feet, on the 13th May, 1873. It was placed in the hole of a trunk of a dead tree at a height of about 40 feet from the ground, and it contained three hard-set eggs. The nest was a loose shallow saucer of coarse roots devoid of lining. The eggs were rather narrow ovals, a good deal pointed towards one end; the shell fine and with a slight gloss. The ground-colour was creamy white, and the markings, which are almost entirely confined to a broad ring round the large end and the space within it, consisted of spots and clouds of very pale yellowish brown, intermingled with clouds and specks of excessively pale, nearly washed out, lilac.

He subsequently furnished me with the following note from Sikhim:—"In the hills this bird is migratory, coming about the last week in February and leaving in the last week of October. It is exceedingly abundant on the outer ridges running in from the Teesta Valley, and most numerous about the elevation of 3000 feet, but stragglers get up as high as 5000 feet. It prefers dry ridges on which there are a few scattered tall trees, from the tops of which it can make short flights, over the open country, after insects. It goes very little abroad in the height of the day, and feeds principally in the evenings. It rarely keeps on the wing for more than a minute or two at a time, but occasionally will fly for ten minutes on end. It is quite as bold and persevering in its habit of attacking and driving off hawks and kites as the king-crow. Towards the end of September it begins to congregate in rows along dead branches in the tops of trees.

"It begins to lay in April and, I think, has only one brood in the year. It builds in holes of trees, on surfaces of large horizontal branches 30 or 40 feet up, or in depressions in ends of lofty stumps. The nest is a shallow saucer, made entirely of light-coloured roots and twigs loosely put together. The usual number of eggs appears to be three."

Mr. J.R. Cripps informs us that at Furreedpore in Eastern Bengal this species is "common, and a permanent resident, very partial to perching on the tips of bamboos, and I have seen as many as 13 sitting side by side on a bamboo tip. I took seven nests this season, all from date-trees (Phoenix sylvestris), which trees are very common in the district. The nest is generally built at the junction of the leaf-stem and the trunk of the tree, though in two instances the nest was placed on a ledge from which all leaves had been removed to enable the tree to be tapped for its juice. In every instance the nest was exposed, and if any bird, even a hawk, came near, these courageous little fellows would drive it off. My nests were found from the 5th April to 6th June; shallow saucers made of fine twigs and grasses with a lining of the same, and contained two to four eggs in each. Height of nest from ground about 12 to 15 feet. On the 17th April I took two fresh eggs from a nest, and the birds laying again, I, on the 8th May, again took three fresh eggs. When on the wing they utter their note, generally returning to the same perch."

And he adds:—

"16th April, 1878.—Took two perfectly fresh eggs from a nest built on a date-tree. The date-trees in this district are tapped annually for the juice, from which sugar is manufactured. The leaves and the bark for a depth of 3 inches are sliced away from one half of the trunk, the leaves on the other half remaining, and at the root of one of these the nest was built, wedged in between the trunk and the leaves; the external diameter was 41/2 inches, depth 3 inches, thickness of sides of nest 3/4 inch; a rather shallow cup, composed exclusively of fine grasses with no attempt at a lining.

"17th April, 1878.—Secured two fresh eggs from another nest on a date-tree. In size and shape they were similar and the materials were the same grasses with no lining. The trees these nests were on formed a small clump alongside a ryot's house. People were passing under them all day, but the birds never noticed them. Any bird, from a Kite to a Bulbul, coming near received a warm welcome. The nests are at all times exposed, and the natives believe that two males and one female are found occupying one nest. The birds being gregarious build on adjoining trees, and while the ladies are engaged with their domestic affairs their lords keep each other company, so the natives put them down as polyandrous. I have found over a dozen nests, and every one has been the counterpart of the other, and only on date-trees."

Miss Cockburn writes from the Nilghiris:—"On the 17th May, 1873, a nest of this bird was found. It was formed in a perpendicular hole in a dried stump of a tree, about 15 feet in height. The nest consisted entirely of slight sticks lined with fine grass, no soft material being added as a finish, and the whole structure went to pieces when removed. This nest contained three eggs, their colour white, with a few dark and light brown spots and blotches all over, and a strongly marked ring round the thick end.

"The birds frequently returned to the place while the eggs were being taken, till one of them was shot."

Mr. J. Davidson remarks:—"This bird is very local in the Tumkur districts in Mysore, and I have only found it in three or four gardens. I knew it had been breeding (from dissection) since March, but till to-day (May 9th) I could not find its nest. To-day, however, I saw four or five birds perpetually flying round and round a very ragged old cocoanut-tree, the highest in that part of the garden, and determined to send a man up. Two birds, however, at that moment lit on one branch and I shot them both, and they proved to be fully-fledged young ones. I sent the man up, however, and was rewarded by his announcing two old nests and a new one containing one egg. The nests were near the trunk of the tree on the horizontal leaves, and were formed of thin roots and a little grass and were very slight. The egg, which is large for the size of the bird, is creamy white, with a broad ring round the larger end formed of blotches of orange, brown, and purple, and in the cap within the ring there are a number of faint purple spots. The egg was perfectly fresh, and the old birds defended it by swooping down upon the man; and I can't help thinking that both the young birds and the new nest belonged to one pair of birds, and that as soon as their first brood was fledged they had commenced to lay again."

A nest taken by Mr. Gammie on the 24th April, at an elevation of about 3500 feet in Sikhim, was placed on a dead horizontal limb near the top of a large tree. It contained four eggs slightly set; it is a somewhat shallow cup, interiorly 3 inches in diameter by nearly 11/2 in depth, and composed almost entirely of fine roots, pretty firmly interwoven. It has no lining, but at the bottom exteriorly it is coated partially with a sort of plaster, composed apparently of strips of bark and vegetable fibre partially cemented together in some way.

The egg sent me by Miss Cockburn is of quite the same type as those found by Mr. Gammie, but it is a trifle longer, measuring 1.0 by 0.7, and the colouring is much brighter. The ground is a sort of creamy white. There is a strongly marked though irregular zone round the large end of more or less confluent brownish rusty patches (amongst which a few pale grey spots may be detected), and a good many spots and small blotches of the same are scattered about the whole of the rest of the surface of the egg.

Numerous eggs subsequently obtained by Mr. Gammie correspond well with those already described as procured by himself and Miss Cockburn.

In length the eggs vary from 0.82 to 1.0, and in breadth from 0.6 to 0.72, but the average is 0.94 by 0.68.

513. Artamus leucogaster (Valenc.). The White-rumped Swallow-Shrike.

Artamus leucorhynchus (Gm.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 287 bis.

The White-rumped Swallow-Shrike breeds, we know, in the Andamans and Great Cocos, and that is nearly all we do know. Mr. Davison says:—"On the 2nd of May I saw a bird of this species fly into a hollow at the top of a rotten mangrove stump about 20 feet high. The next day I went, but did not like to climb the stump, as it appeared unsafe, so I determined to cut it down, and after giving about six strokes that made the stump shake from end to end, the bird flew out. I made sure that as the bird sat so close the nest must contain eggs, so I ceased cutting and managed to get a very light native, who voluntered to climb it; but on his reaching the top, he found, to my astonishment, that the nest, although apparently finished, was empty. The nest was built entirely of grass, somewhat coarse on the exterior, finer on the inside; it was a shallow saucer-shaped structure, and was placed in a hollow at the top of the stump."



Family ORIOLIDAE.

518. Oriolus kundoo, Sykes. The Indian Oriole.

Oriolus kundoo, Sykes, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 107; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 470.

The Indian Oriole breeds from May to August (the great majority, however, laying in June and July) almost throughout the plains country of India and in the lower ranges of the Himalayas to an elevation of 4000 feet. In Southern and Eastern Bengal it only, so far as I know, occurs as a straggler during the cold season, and I have no information of its breeding there. It does not apparently ascend the Nilghiris, and throughout the southern portion of the peninsula it breeds very sparingly, if at all; indeed, it is just at the commencement of the breeding-season, when the mangoes are ripening, that Upper India is suddenly visited by vast numbers of this species migrating from the south.