8.54 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vet. XXVI. 



^3. The White-winged Jay — Platysmurus Uucopterus. 



On March 12 I was fortunate enough to find a nest of this- species 

 containing four eggs, quite fresh, with the exception of one which showed 

 sUght blood streaks, thereby indicating that the clutch was complete and 

 that incubation had commenced. The nest was exactly as described by 

 Davison, forty years ago, placed on the frond of a cane, (Gates, who was 

 not a botanist, has incorrectly translated "Calamus" as "reed" in his note 

 on the breeding of this bird). The nest found by me was placed at a height 

 of about ten feet from the ground, and exactly resembled a rather large 

 ■ crow's nest from below, being entirely composed of small sticks. The cup 

 was deep, neatly lined with roots, and well rounded, it contained a few 

 fresh flowers of an epiphytic creeper, a Vaccinium I think. The eggs 

 measure, in inches, l-80xU-94, l-28x0-92, l-29x0-96, and l-27x0i^5. 

 Thej' are very heavily speckled all over, more densely at the large end, 

 and very closely resemble those of Cissa chinensis ; in fact, except that 

 they are a trifle longer and broader, and have a rather greenish tint, 

 they are diflicult to distinguish from those of the Green Magpie. There 

 :is not, however, the slightest doubt as to their authenticity, as I myself 

 saw the old bird sitting on the nest, and she did not take flight until we 

 were within a couple of yards of the nest, and subsequently hung about 

 protesting vigorously against the robbery. A Karen who was with me on 

 this occasion, later found another nest with two fresh eggs which he 

 brought to me ; this was in all respects similar to the one found by me, 

 but the eggs, as is so common with Jays, were by no means identical, 

 being larger, lighter in colour, and more pointed. These two eggs measure 

 1-42 X 0-97 and 1-35 x 0-93 and are undoubtedly genuine as the flnder was 

 able to name the bird, (it is called Tokluh in the Karen language), and 

 also picked out the bird, without assistance, from my collection of skins. 



64. Black-throated Laughing Thrush — Dryonastes chinensis. 



I have only met with this bird once, and this was at an elevation 

 of about 3,000 feet on Nwalabo, in heavy bamboo forest. The nest was 

 small, no larger than that of D. sannio, made of bamboo leaves and thickly 

 lined with coarse roots. It was placed in a banboo fork, about seven feet 

 from the ground, and contained three fresh eggs, of the palest possible 

 skimmilk blue, narrow and pointed and measuring l"23x0'90 : l-23x0-88 : 

 1-25X0-86. 



86. Chestnut-headed Laughing Thrush — TrocJialoptemm melanostigma. 



These birds are not uncommon in the dense evergreen on the slopes of 

 Nwalabo, at an elevation of about 2,000 to 3,000 feet. I found my first 

 nest on May 11, 1918, with two fresh eggs in a small sapling. It was a 

 massive cup of green moss, lined with the black hair-like fungus so com- 

 monly used for this purpose. Parenthetically I may remark that this 

 appears to be the substance referred to by writers on oology as " fine 

 black roots", " hair-like roots," etc., etc. It is, as a matter fact, a thread 

 fungvis which attacks the leaves of trees and other plants ; I have found a 

 piece of this substance, fully three feet in length, coiled round and round 

 and used by a bulbul as a lining for its nest. To return to the Trochaloptenim, 

 the nest was placed on, and built into, the moss in a fork of a small branch 

 and one egg unfortunately was broken in getting it down ; the other 

 measures 1-20 x 0'85 and was, when fresh, a beautiful sky blue, (it has 

 since faded), marked with some large blotches of sepiaat the large end, 

 and a few spots of the same colour scattered over the rest of the surface. 

 In 1918 I also found two other similar nests, but they were empty and 

 had apparently been used. In 1919 I visited Nwalabo again, and on 

 April 25 found a nest in process of construction, watching the birds for 

 some time. This nest however, was not in the least like that (Sessribedl 



