FRANKTJNIA. 245 



is the commonest bird, breeding about Dhidia in July, August, and 

 September. 



Colonel E. A. Butler writes : — " I found a nest of the Eufous- 

 fronted Wren-AVarbler at Deesa on the 27th July, 1875. It was 

 in a grass beerh, and placed in a heap of dead thorns overgrown 

 with grass and about a foot from the ground. It was composed 

 externally of dry grass-stems, with lumps of silky white vegetable 

 down (Cahtropis) scattered sparingly over the whole nest. The 

 lining consisted of very fine dry grass neatly put together and 

 felted with silky down, and a considerable amount of the dull 

 salmon-coloured fungus or lichen referred to in the ' Enough Draft 

 of Nests and Eggs,' p. 359. In shape the nest is nearly spherical, 

 being slightly o\al however, with a small aperture near the top. 

 The entrance was 1^ inches in diameter, and the nest itself roughly 

 measured from the outside 4,4 inches in length and 4 in width. 

 The eggs, usually four in number, are white, closely speckled over 

 with pale rusty red, intermingled with a few pale washed-out inky 

 markings, in some cases at the large end, which is surrounded by a 

 zone clear and well-marked in some instances, less distinct in 

 others. I found other nests in the same neighbourhood as 

 below : — 



"Aug. 24, 1875. A nest containing 4 fresh eggs. 



"July 20, 1876. „ „ 4 „ „ 



" July 28, „ „ „ 4 young birds. 



" Aug. 4, „ „ „ 4 fresh eggs. 



Aug. o, „ ,, ,, 4 „ J, 



' Aug. 5, ,, ,, ,, 4 „ ,, 



"Aug. 5, „ „ „ 5 „ „ 



"Aug. 8, „ „ „ 5 „ „ 



"Aug. 14, „ „ „ 5 „ „ 



" In every one of the above instances the nest was exactly similar 

 to the one I have described, and built in the same kind of situation, 

 i. e. in heaps of dead thorns overgrown with long grass. The 

 eggs are all much the same, the spots being larger in some than in 

 others and more numerous in some cases than in others. In one 

 set I have the ground is very pale bluish \\'hite (skimmed milk) 

 instead of being pure white. As a rule the eggs are almost 

 exactly like the eggs of C cursitans, and if mixed I doubt very much 

 if any person could separate them. On examining the salmon- 

 coloured fungus-lining it appears to me to be nothing more nor 

 less than small pieces of dried ber leaves, and I have never 

 examined a nest without finding some of this material at the 

 bottom of it." 



"The Enfous-fronted "Wren-Warbler," writes Lieut. Barnes, 

 " breeds in Eajpootaua during July, August, and the early part of 

 September. The nest, composed of grass, is loosely constructed, 

 and placed in low bushes or scrub." 



The eggs vary somewhat in size and shape ; a moderately broad 

 oval, slightly compressed towards the larger end, being, however, 



