740 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVI. 



No. III.— THE NESTING OF SOME BIRDS IN BURMA WHICH 

 HAVE NOT BEEN RECORDED BEFORE. 



SCTHORA BkUNNEA. 



I was fortunate in finding four nests of this interesting little bird, up at Sinlum 

 Kaba (oOOO feet), Bhamo District, Upper Burma. The first nest was found 

 on the 30th May in a patch of reeds growing in the Government garden. The 

 birds first attracted my attention by their continuous twittering while my dog 

 was working in some long grass and reeds growing in a swamp. I felt certain 

 that there was a nest somewhere near, so carefully marking the spot I went 

 away. On returning, sure enough a bird got up somewhere, but it was impossible 

 to say where, so by repeating the practice three or four times I was fortunate at 

 last in seeing the exact clump from which the bird came out of, and so found the 

 nest, which was placed in the middle of a clump of reeds and about 18'' from 

 the ground and well concealed and would have been impossible to find unless 

 the bird had been seen leaving. It took me a whole afternoon to finding the 

 nest and shooting the parent bird. The nest was rather a deep cup-shaped 

 structure composed of bamboo leaves and coarse blades of grass and lined with 

 finer grass and a few horse hairs, measuring about 4" x 3^" outside and 

 2" X 2" inside. It contained 3 highly incubated eggs of a pale bright blue 

 measuring about "7 x '55. The other nests were easier to find after the birds' 

 note and habits were known. As in each case they drew attention to their 

 whereabouts by their twittering. I used to then mark the spot with a 

 stick and go away and sit down, as soon as all was quiet I came back when the 

 noise would begin again, by doing this a few times the bird would be seen 

 leaving and then after a careful hunt most probably the nest would be found. 

 The three nests were found near each other on the same spur of the hills on 

 the 1st of June, and were placed as follows: — One in a clump of thatching 

 grass at about one foot from the ground, another placed on a bramble in 

 some grass about 2 feet from the ground, and the third in a patch of 

 grass growing under a thornbush, and contained 3 young birds, 3 eggs and 2 

 eggs, respectively, the eggs were hard set but blowable after a few days' water 

 treatment. 



The birds seem to inhabit long grass and reeds where they creep about and 

 rarely fly, they are often heard but seldom seen. I also shot a specimen 

 of S. poliotis (No. 56) up at Sinlum. This had all the habits of a tit and was 

 got in the tree jungle while hunting after insects fairly high up from the 

 ground. 



Pycnonotus xanthokuhous — Anderson's Bulbul. 



(Kochin name — Kator Tor Phrong). 



Sinlum Kaba is a great place for Bulbuls and I think I saw at least six 

 different kinds, amongst them S. canifrons which also was breeding. P. xan- 

 tliorrltoMs was however the commonest. I was unfortunately too late for the 



