ZOSTEROPS. ^ 143 



fruifc of the Khoda or Chumroor (Ehretia l<cvis). I got one fruit 

 from the old birds, being anxious to know what the young ones 

 were getting for their dinner. 



" The pairing-season commences about the end of March, when 

 the males may be heard uttering a feeble kind of rambling 

 song, which in reality is merely modified repetitions of a single 

 note." 



Mr. A. Anderson remarked that " the White-eye breeds through- 

 out the North-AVestern ProA'inces and Oudh during the months 

 ot: June, July, and x\.ugust. The nest is a beautiful little model 

 of the Oriole's; and according to my experience it is invariably 

 suspended, and not fixed in the fork of small branches as stated 

 by Jerdon. I have on several occasions watched a pair in the 

 act of building their nest. They set to work \Aith cobwebs, 

 and having first tied together two or three leafy twigs to which 

 they intend to attach their nest, they then use fine fibre of the sun 

 (Crotalaria juncea), with which material they complete the outer 

 fabric of their very beautiful and compact nest. As the work 

 progi'esses more cobwebs and fibre of a silky kind are applied 

 externally, and at times the nest, when tossed about by the wind 

 (sometimes at a considerable elevation), would be mistaken by a 

 casual observer for an accidental collection of cobwebs. The inside 

 of the nest is well felted with the down of the madar plant, and then 

 it is finally lined with tine hair and grass-stems of the softest kind. 

 Sometimes the nest is suspended from only two t«igs, exactly after 

 the fashion of the Mango-birds (Onolus Jiun/loo); and in this case 

 it is attached by means of silk-like fibres and fine fibre of sun for 

 about Ig inch on each side ; at others it is suspended from several 

 twigs ; and occasionally I have seen the leaves fixed on to the sides 

 of the nest, thus making it extremely difficult of detection, 



" In shape the nest is a perfect hollow hemisphere ; one now 

 before me measures (inside) 1*5 in diameter. The wall is about 

 0''3 in thickness. 



" Almost all my nests have been built on the neem tree, the 

 long slender 'petioles of which are admirably adapted for its sus- 

 pension. 



" As a rule the nest is built at a considerable height, and owing 

 to its situation thei*e is not a more difficult nest to take. Great 

 numbers get washed down in a half-fi.nished state in a heavy fall 

 of rain. 



" The eggs are, exactly as Jerdon describes them, of a pale blue, 

 ' almost like skimmed milk,' and the usual number is three, though 

 four are frequently laid." 



" On the 7th September," writes Mr. E. M. Adam, " in my 

 garden in Lucknow, I discovered a nest of this bird in course of 

 construction, but when it was nearly finished the birds left it. 

 The nest was a beautiful little cup made of fine grass and cobwebs. 

 It was situated in a slender fork of a mango-tree about 15 feet 

 from the ground." 



Major C. T. Bingham says : — " Common both at Allahabad and 



