12 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1890. 



or more leaves, carefully sewn together, with cobwebs, cotton, or 

 wool, and is almost completely hidden by leaves. 



The eggs, four in number, are of an oval shape, and are of four 

 distinct types, viz.: — 



a. Pure unspotted glossy white. 



b. White, speckled and freckled with reddish-brown. 



c. Pale unspotted greenish-blue. 



d. Pale blue, spotted and freckled with reddish-brown. 



All the eggs in one nest are of one type. Some of the spotted 

 eggs have the markings thickest at one end, where they often form 

 an imperfect cap or zone. 



They measure 0'57 inches in length by about 0'42 in breadth. 



Baroda, July to September. H. Littledale, B.A. 



Western Khandeish, July to October. J Davidson, C.S. 



539.— THE RUFOUS GRASS WARBLER. 

 Cisticola cursitans, Franhl. 



With the exception of the higher ranges of hills where it is scarce, 

 and in the desert tracks where it is altogether absent, the Rufous 

 Grass Warbler is a more or less common permanent resident, breed- 

 ing during the rains, making a long purse-like nest, composed of 

 silky, white, vegetable down, which is placed in the centre of a 

 clump of grass, at a short distance only above the ground. 



The blades of grass around the nest are so firmly interwoven with 

 it, that it cannot be removed intact. It is rather larger at the bottom 

 than at the top, and the tacking together of the blades of grass is 

 continued higher on one side than the other, a small entrance being 

 left on the opposite side, between the untacked stems ; the inside is 

 well lined or felted with soft vegetable down. 



The eggs, four or five in number, are broadish ovals in shape, nar- 

 rowing somewhat at one end ; they average 0*58 inches in length 

 by 046 in breadth. 



In colour they are white, or faint greenish-white suffused with a 

 pinkish tint when fresh and unblown, and are thickly speckled with 

 pale reddish-brown. These specks are much more numerous at the 



