24 CORVIDiE. 



eggs yellowish white, blotched with pale olive chiefly at the larger 

 end ; young just born. 



" Jalia Fowah, 6th June. — Female and nest in forest on a largish 

 tree placed on the fork of a branch ; a mere bunch of sticks like a 

 Crow's nest ; three eggs, short and thick, fawny white blotched 

 with fawn-brown chiefly at the thick end." 



Dr. Jerdon says : — " I have had the nest and eggs brought me at 

 Darjeeling frequently. The nest is made of sticks and roots, and 

 the eggs, three or four iu nmnber, are of a pale dull greenish-fawn 

 colour, with a few pale reddish-brown spots and blotches, some- 

 times very indistinct." 



Captain Hutton tells us that this species " occurs abundantly at 

 Mussoorie, at about 5000 feet elevation, during summer, and more 

 sparingly at greater elevations. In the winter it leaves the moun- 

 tains for the Dhoon. 



" It breeds in May, on the 27th of which n)onth I took a nest with 

 three eggs and another with three young ones. The nest is like 

 that of Ufocissa occipitalis, being composed externally of twigs and 

 lined with finer materials, according to the situation ; one nest, 

 taken iu a deep glen by the side of a stream, was lined with the 

 long fibrous leaves of the Mare's tail {Equisetum) \Ahich grew abun- 

 dantly by the water's edge ; another, taken much higher on the 

 hillside and away from the water, was lined with tendrils and fine 

 roots. The nest is placed rather low, generally about 8 or 10 feet 

 from the ground, sometimes at the extremity of a horizontal branch, 

 sometimes in the forks of young bushy oaks. The eggs somewhat 

 resemble those of U. occipitalis, but are paler and less spotted, being 

 of a dull greenish ash with brown blotches and spots, somewhat 

 thickly clustered at the larger end." 



Mr." J. li. Cripps says :— " On the 15th June, 1880, I found a 

 nest [in the Diln-ugarh District] with three fresh eggs. It was 

 fixed in the middle branches of a sapling, about ten feet off the 

 ground, in dense forest, and was built of twigs, ])resenting a fragile 

 appearance ; the egg-cavity was 4| inches [iu diameter] and 1 inch 

 deep, and lined \^■ith fine twigs and grass-roots." 



Captain Wardlaw Eamsay writes : — "I obtained two eggs of this 

 species at an elevation of 4200 feet in the Karen hills east of 

 Toungngoo on the 16th April, 1875." 



Takiiig the eggs as a body they are rather regular, some\Ahat 

 elongated ovals, but broader and again more pointed varieties 

 occur. The ground-colour varies a great deal : in a few it is nearly 

 pure white, generally it has a dull greenish or yellowish-brovAn 

 tinge, in some it is creamy, in some it has a decided pinky tinge. 

 The markings are large irregular bloiches and streaks, almost 

 always most dense at the large end, M'here they are often more or 

 less confluent, forming an iri'egular motlled cap, and not un- 

 frequently very thinly set over the rest of the surface of the egg. 

 In one egg, however, the zone is about the tliick end, and there 

 are scarcely any markings elsewhere. As a rule the mnikings are 

 of an o]i\e-bro\\]i of one shade or another; but when the irround 



