THE BIRDS OF TRAVANCOHE, AV> 



in small flocks, It has a very fine song, quite equal to that of Alauda 

 gulgvla. Unlike that bird it often sings while on the ground as- 

 well as when soaring. 



(128). Pyrrhulauda grisea. — The Ashy-crowned Finch-lark. 



Oates, No. 879; Jerdon, No. 7(50. 

 This is eminently a bird of the dry plains. At Cape Comorfn, it is 

 fairly common throughout the year. In the dry weather it frequents 

 the paddy fields about Trivandrum, but disappears when the rains come 

 on. I have not met with it further north. 



Family HECTARINilDiE. 



Sub-family Neetariniince. 

 (129) Arachnecthra lotenia. — Loten's Sun-bird. 

 Oates, No. 894 ; Jerdon, JSo. 235. 

 Loten's Sun-bird is fairly common in the low country and ascend 

 the hills to 2,000 feet. All these birds are particularly partial 

 to shoe-flowers and where these are growing they are always 

 found. 



(130) Arachnecthra asiatica. — The Purple Sun-bird. 

 Oates, No, 895 ; Jerdon, No. 234. 

 This bird is not so common as the last and I have not met with it on 

 the hills. It frequents open country where there are bushes and also 

 gardens. The nest is of the usual bottle-shaped type with a domed 

 entrance. "The e£os," Mr. T. F. Bourdillon remarks, '''are scarcelv to 

 be distinguished from those of A. minima though they are slightly larger. 

 They recall, as Mr. flume observes, the eggs of the sedge warbler, with 

 this difference that they are more pointed, smaller, and have a zone of 

 dark markings round the larger end, while they want the ink marks so 

 often seen m the sedge warblers' eggs." 



(131) Arachnecthra minima. — Small Sun-bird. 

 Oates, No. 900 ; Jerdon, No. 233. 

 Common on the hills at all elevations in the south and also on the 

 High Range. '' The nest is a pocket composed almost entirely of moss, 

 and is usually suspended at the end of a bough at some distance from 

 the ground. I have frequently had the eggs brought to me. They 

 are dull-greenish or greyish-white, thickly spotted with greenish -brown, 

 especially at the larger end, and average "6 X'± in." — T. F. B. 

 They breed in December and January. 



