BRACIIYPTERYX. DRTMOCIIARES. 129 



ilne fern-roots. luside 1'75 incl> deep and 2-5 inches across ; 

 outside a slia])ele8s mass of moss tilling up tlie hole it was built iu. 

 The nest was a ery conspicuous to auy one passing by." 



1U4. Brachypteryx rufiventris (Blyth). The llufous-hdlial 

 tSliort-iviny, 



Callene rufiventris, Bh/th, Jercl. B. Ind. i, p. 49G ; Ilume^ Itouyh 

 Draft N. i^- E. no. 3;3<J. 



I ha^e been favoured with nests of the Eufous-bellied Short- 

 wing by Mr. Carter, \\\\o took them from holes or depressions of 

 banks iu the IXilghiris iu April and May. They closely resemble 

 nests of Niltava macgrif/orUe from Darjeeling. They are soft 

 masses of green moss, some 4 or 5 inches in diameter externally, 

 with more or less of a depression towards one side, lined with very 

 fine dark moss-roots. This depression may average about 2| 

 inches across and | inch iu depth ; but they vary a good deal. 

 Mr. Carter says ; — " I have found the nests of this species about 

 Conoor in May, in holes of banks, on roads running through thick 

 sliolas (i. e. jungles not amounting to forests). The nests are of 

 moss, shallow, lined with fine root-fibres, the cavity about 3'5 

 inches in diameter. They lay two eggs, pale olive, shading into a 

 decided bro\\nish red at the larger end. The old birds are very 

 shy in returning to the nest when watched ; indeed, they are 

 always shy, hiding in the brushwood of jungles or amongst fallen 

 timber, along which they almost creep." 



Mr. Davison informs me that " this species breeds on the Nil- 

 ghiris from about 5500 feet to about 7000 during April and May, 

 building in holes of trees, crevices of rocks, &c., seldom at any 

 great elevation above the ground. The nest is composed of moss, 

 lined with moss and fern-roots. Tv^o or three eggs ai'e laid." 



The few eggs I possess, which I owe to Messrs. Carter and 

 Davison, and which were taken by them in the Nilghiris, have a 

 pale olive-brown ground with, at the large end, an ill-defined 

 mottled reddish-brown cap. In some specimens the motthng 

 extends more or less over the whole egg, though always most dense 

 about the larger end. Though much larger and of a more elongated 

 shape, they not a little resemble some specimens of the eggs of 

 Fratincola indica that I possess. In shape they are long ovals, 

 recalling in that respect those of Mijloj^nlioneus temminclcl ; they 

 have less gloss than the eggs of most of the Thrushes. 



Iu length they vary from 0-97 to 1-02 inch, and in breadth fr^m 

 0-65 to 0-69 inch. 



197. Drymochares cruralis (Blyth). I'he White-hrowed 

 Slioft-iuimj. 



Brachypteryx cnu-alis (i>/.), Jercl. B. Ind. \, p. 495 ; Hume, llouyh 

 Draft N". Sj- E. uo. 338. 



According to Mr. Hodgson's notes and drawings, the White- 



VOL. I. 9 



