ANOBTHUEA. 221 



large ber-treu in a patch of preserved jungle, at a height oi' about 

 10 i'eet frona tlie ground. It was cup-shaped, placed on tlie upper 

 surface of a horizontal bough at the angle formed between this 

 and a vertical shoot, to \\'hich it was attached on one side, tlie 

 other three sides be'ng free. The nest itself is unlike any other 

 that I have seen. It is composed entirely of bits of leaf-stalks, 

 tinv bits of leaves, chips of bark, the dung of caterpillars, all 

 cemented together everywhere with cobwebs, so that the whole 

 nest is a firm but yet soft and elastic mass. The nest is cup- 

 shaped, but oval and not circular ; its exterior diameters are 4 and 

 3 inches respectively ; its greatest height 2 inches ; the cavity 

 measures 2-G by 2-2, and 1-1 in depth. 



The texture of the ne.st, as I have already said, is extremely 

 peculiar ; it is extremely strong, and though pulled off the bough 

 on which it rested and the off-shoot to which it was attached, is as 

 perfect apparently as the day it was found, bearing on the lower 

 surface an exact cast of the inequalities of the bark on w Inch it 

 rested ; but it is soft, yielding, and flabby in the hand, almost as 

 much so as if it was jelly. The nest contained two almost full- 

 grown nestlings and one addled egg. 



This egg is a very regular oval, slightly broader at one end, th^ 

 shell fine and fairly glossy ; the ground-colour is pale greenish 

 white ; round the large end there is an irregular imperfect zone of 

 blackish-brown specks and tiny spots, and round about these is 

 more or less of a brown nimbus, and over the rest of the egg a 

 very few specks and spots of blackish, dusky, and pale brown are 

 scattered. It measures 0*68 by 0"53. 



Another nest was found about 15 feet up a tree. It was partly 

 seated on and partly wedged in between the fork of two thick 

 oblique branches, to the rough bark of which the bottom only was 

 firmly cemented with cobwebs, the sides, as in the case of the first 

 nest, being quite free and detached from its surroundings. As 

 regai'ds dimensions and composition, the latter nest was an exact 

 counterpart of that first taken. It contained two partially fledged 

 nestlings. 



352. Anorthura neglecta (Brooks). The Cashmir Wren. 



TrofJ-lodytes neglecta, UrooJcs, Hume, Cat. no. 333 bis. 



Troglodytes nipaleusis, Hodgs.^ Hume, Rough Draft N. 8f E. no. 333. 



The Cashmir Wren breeds in Cashmir in May and June at 

 elevations of from 6000 to nearly 10,000 feet. 1 have ne\'er seen 

 the nest, though I possess eggs taken by Captain Cock and 

 Mr. Brooks in Cashmir. The latter says : — " Only t\A'o nests of 

 this bird were found (both at Grulmurg), one having four eggs and 

 the other three. In the latter case the full number was not laid, 

 as the nest, when first found, was empty; on three successive 

 mornings an egg w^as laid and then they were taken. 



" In shape they vary as much as do those of the English Wren, 



