102 CEATEROPODIDJE. 



lined, tliongh domed over, with the entrance at the side, and con- 

 taining two fresh eggs, white, thickly speckled with brick-red and 

 obscin-e purple. On the 12th of the same month, I found a second 

 nest behind the zayat or rest-house at Meeawuddy. This was 

 similar to the nest above described, and contained three similar 

 eggs." 



The eggs measure from -78 to -88 in length, and from '58 to -65 

 in breadth ; but the average of twelve eggs is -82 by -62. 



147. Pellorneum fuscicapillum (Bl.). The Brown-capped Babbler. 

 Pellorneum fuscocapillum {Bl), Hume, Cat. no. 399 quiut. 



Captain Legge writes, in his ' Birds of Ceylon ' :— " The nest of 

 this species is exceedingly difficult to find, and scarcely anything 

 is known of its nidification. Mr. Blyth succeeded in finding it in 

 Haputale at an elevation of 5500 feet. It was placed in a bramble 

 about 3 feet from the ground, and was cup-shaped, loosely con- 

 structed of moss and leaves ; it contained three young." 



149. Drymocataphus nigricapitatus (Eyton). The Blacl--capped 



Babbler. 

 Drymocataphus nigricapitatus {Eyton), Hume, Cat. no. 396 sex. 



Mr. "W. Davison writes : — "I got one nest of this bird at Klang. 

 I was passing through some very dense jungle, where the ground 

 was very marshy, when one of these birds rose from the ground 

 about a couple of feet in front of me, and alighted on an old 

 stump some few feet away. On examining the place from which 

 the bird rose, I found the nest placed at the base of a small clump 

 of ferns, and concealed by a number of overhanging withered 

 fronds of the fern. The base of the nest, which rested on the 

 ground, was composed of a mass of dried twigs, leaves, &c. ; then 

 came the real body of the nest, composed of coarse fern-roots, the 

 egg-cavity being lined \\]ih finer roots and a number of hair-like 

 fibres. It looked compactly and strongly put together, but on 

 trying to remove it, it all came to pieces. "When the bird saw me 

 examining the nest it fluttered to within a couple of feet of me, 

 twittering in a most vehement manner, feigning a broken wing to 

 try and clraw me away. The nest contained only two eggs, which 

 were slightly set." 



These eggs are extremely regular ovals, scarcely smaller, if at 

 all, at one end than at the other. The shell is very fine and fragile, 

 but has only a slight gloss. The ground-colour appears to have 

 been creamy white, but tlie markings are so thickly set that little 

 of this is anywhere visible. First, pale inky-purple spots and 

 clouds are thickly sprinkled over the surface, and over this the 

 whole egg is freclvled with a pale purplish brown. They measured 

 0-82 in length by 0-02 and 0-03 in breadth. 



