142 CRATEROPbDTDiE. 



isliing the mere weight of the parent bird does not bring it to the 

 ground, and yet within it three young ones will often safely out- 

 ride a gale that will bring the weightier nests of Jays and Thrushes 

 to the ground. 



" Of seven nests now before me four are composed externally of 

 little bits of green moss, cotton, and seed-down, and the silk of the 

 wild mulberry-moth torn from the cocoons, with which last 

 material, however, the others appear to be bound together within. 

 The lining of two is of the long hairs of the yak's tail, two of which 

 died on the estate where these nests were found, and a third is 

 lined witb black human hair. The other three are formed of 

 somewhat different materials, two being externally composed of 

 fine grass-stalks, seed-down, and shreds of bark so fine as to 

 resemble tow ; one is lined witb seed-down and black fibrous 

 lichens resembling hair, a second is lined with fine grass, and a 

 third with a thick coating of pure white silky seed-down. In all 

 the seven, the materials of the two sides are wound round the twigs, 

 between which they are suspended like a cradle, and the shape is 

 an ovate cup, about the size of half a hen's egg split longitudinally. 

 The diameter and depth are respectively 2 inches and 1| inch by 

 three-fourths of an inch. The eggs are usually three in number." 



Mr. Brooks, writing from Almorab, says : — " This morning, 28tb 

 April, I found a nest of Zosterops palpehrosa containing two fresh 

 eggs. Yesterday I found one of the same bird containing three 

 half-fledged young ones. Near the Tonse Eiver, in the Allahabad 

 District, I found these birds in July nesting high in a mango-trt e, 

 the nest suspended like an Oriole's to several leaves ; now I find it in 

 low bushes, at heights of from 3 to 5 feet from the ground. The 

 eggs, as before, skim-milk blue, without markings of any kind." 



From Gurhwal Mr. 11. Thompson says : — " A small cup-shaped 

 elegant nest is built by this bird suspended by fastenings from the 

 fork of a low branch. The nest is about 2^ inches in diameter and 

 three-fourths of an inch in depth, composed of cobwebs, fine roots, 

 hairs, &c., neatly interwoven and lined internally witb vegetable 

 down. The eggs, two, three, or four in number, are of a pale 

 whitish-blue, oval, and somewhat larger than those o'i Arachneclitlira 

 asiatica. The birds select all kinds of trees, but the nest is always 

 suspended. The breeding-season is about March and Apx-il, and 

 the brood is quickly hatched and fledged. 



"A nest found by me on the 22]id April, and containing four 

 eggs, was built most ingeniously in a cree])er that bung from a 

 small tree. The birds had arranged it so that the long down- 

 bearing tendril of the creeper blended with the nest, which in the 

 main was composed of the material surrounding it. 



" Another nest found on the 26th contained three young ones. 

 It was built in a low branch of a large mango-tree, and n)ight 

 have been 12 feet from the ground. It was a neat compact 

 structure, deeply hollow, and made up of cobwebs, fine straw, and 

 liair, and lined w itli vegetable do\\n, closely and neatly interwoven. 



" The parent birds were evidently feeding the young ou the ripe 



