162 CRATEROPODIDiE. 



not appear to ascend above 5500 to 6000 feet, and is therefore 

 more properly an inhabitant of the warm valleys. I do not remem- 

 ber seeing it at Mussoorie, which is 6500 to 7000 feet, although 

 at 5200 feet on the same range it is abundant during summer. 

 Its notes and flight are very much those of the Starling (Stunws 

 vidfjaris), and it delights to take a short and rapid flight and return 

 twittering to perch on the very summit of the forest trees. I have 

 never seen it on the ground, aud its food appears to consist of berries. 

 " Like the two species of Acrldotheres, it nidificates by itself in 

 the holes of trees, lining the cavity with bits of leaves. The eggs 

 are usually three, or sometimes four or five, of a delicate pale sea- 

 green speckled with blood-like stains, which sometimes tend to 

 form a ring near the larger end ; shape oval, slightly tapering." 



The eggs are so different in character fi-om those of all the 

 Starlings that doubts might reasonably arise as to whether this 

 species is placed exactly w-here it ought to be by Jerdon and others. 

 I possess at present only three eggs of this bird, which I owe to 

 Captain Hutton. They are decidedly long ovals, much pointed 

 towards the small end, and in shape and coloration not a little recall 

 those of Myiojihoneus temmincM. The eggs are glossless, of a 

 greenish or greyish-white ground, more or less profusely speckled 

 and spotted with I'ed, reddish brown, and dingy purple. In two of 

 the eggs the majority of the markings are gathered into a broad ir- 

 regular speckled zone round the large end. In the third egg there is 

 just a trace of such a zone and no markings at all elsewhere. In 

 length they vary from 1-03 to 1-08, and in breadth from 0'68 to 0-74.* 



* Hypocolius ampelinus, Bonap. The Grey Hypocolms. 

 Hypocolius ampelinus, Bi)., Hume, Cat. no. 269 quat. 

 Although this bird has not yet been found breeding within Indian limits, 

 the following account of its nidification at Fao, in the Persian Gulf, by Mr. W. 

 D. Gumming (Ibis, 188G, p. 478) will prove interesting: — 



" It is not till tlie middle of Juno tluit they breed. 



" In 1883, first eggs were brought by an i^rab about the 13th of June, and on 

 the 15th of the same month I found a nest Containing two fi-esh eggs. In 1884, 

 on the 14th of June a nest was brought me containing four fresh eggs, and on 

 the 15th I found a nest containing also four fresh eggs. 



"2nd July, I came across four young birds able to fly. On the 3rd, three 

 nests were brought, one containing two fresh eggs, another three young just 

 fledged, and the other four eggs slightly incubated. On the Pth, another nest, 

 containing four young just fledged was brouglit. On the 15th I saw a flock of 

 small birds well able to fly ; on the 18th I found a nest containing four young 

 about a couple of days old, and on the 2()th a nest containing three eggs well 

 incubated was brought from a place called 'Goosba' on the opposite bank 

 (Persian side) of the river. 



" The nests are generally placed on the leaves of the date-palm, at no very 

 great height. The highest I have seen was built about ten feet from the ground, 

 but from three to five feet is the average height. 



" They are substantial and cup-shaped, having a diameter of about 3^ inches 

 by 2^ inches in depth, lined inside with fine grass, the soft fluff* from the willow 

 when in seed, wool, and sometimes hair. 



" The eggs are of a glossy leaden white, with leaden-coloured blotches and 

 spots towards the larger end, sometimes forming a ring i-ound the larger end, 

 and at times spreading over the entire egg. 



