134 CRATEEOPODID.T. 



the colour is pale bluish white, freckled with rufous. The nest 

 was placed ou a brauch of a plum-tree in the Botauical Garden, 

 Mussoorie." 



Captain Cock says that he " found this species breeding at 

 Murree, at GOOO feet elevation. 



" I took my first nest on the 5th June. 



"It builds near the tops of the highest pines, and unless seen 

 building its nest with the glasses, it is impossible to fhid the nest 

 with the unaided eye. 



" The nest is placed on the outer extremity of an upper bough 

 in a pine-tree ; is constructed of moss lined with stalks of the 

 maiden-hair fern. Three eggs is the largest number I ever found. 

 The eggs are light greenish white, with rusty spots and blotches 

 principally at the larger end." 



Prom !N"ynee Tal Colonel G. E. L. Marshall writes :_— " This 

 species builds in trees and bushes. The only nest I examined per- 

 sonally was a very compact and thick cup-shaped structure of 

 moss, grass, and roots, lined with grass, and placed amongst the 

 outer t\Aigs of a blackberry bush overhanging a cliff. It was 

 ready for the eggs on the 23rd May. It was found at Nynee Tal 

 on Agar Pata, about 7000 feet above the sea." 



Prom Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes: — "I have oi-ly myself taken 

 two nests of this common species. I found both of them the same 

 day (the 21 st May), in the Chinchoua reserves, at an elevation of 

 about 5000 feet. 'Both nests were in the forest, built on the outer 

 branches of trees, at heights the one of 15, the other of 40 feet 

 from the ground. Tlie nests were cup-shaped, and very neatly 

 made of moss, leaves and fibres, and lined with black fibres. One 

 measured externally 4-6 in diameter by 2*75 in height, and inter- 

 nally 2-4 in diameter and 1-7 in depth. One nest contained 

 two fresh, the other two hard-set eggs ; so perhaps two is the 

 normal number, though the natives say that they lay three. As 

 might be expected from the bird's habit of feeding on the insects 

 on moss-covered trees in moist forests, the nests were in forest by 

 the sides of streams." 



The eggs are rather broad, slightly pyriform ovals, often a good 

 deal pulled out as it were at the small end. The shell is fine, but 

 almost entirely devoid of gloss. The ground-colour is a pale green- 

 ish white or Very pale bluish green. The markings are various 

 and com])licated: first there are usually a few large, irregular, 

 moderately dark brownish-red spots and splashes; then there are 

 a very few, xery dark, reddish-brown hair-lines, such as one finds 

 on Buntings' eggs ; then there is a good deal of clouding and 

 smudging here and there of pale, dingy purplish or brownish red 

 (all these markings are most numerous towards the large end) ; 

 and then besides these, and almost entirely confined to the large 

 end, are a few pale pui-ple specks and spots. Sometimes the 

 markings are almost wholly confined to the thicker end of the egg. 

 Of course the eggs vary somewhat, and in some specimens the 

 characteristic Bunting-like hair-lines arc almost wholly wanting. 



