246 SYLVIID.5. 



the commonest tv])e. Examining a large series, it appears tliat 

 variations from this type are more commonly of an elongated than 

 a spherical form. The eggs are of the same character as those 

 of Oisticola cursitans (p. 2?)6), but yet differ somewhat. The 

 eggs are many of them fairly glossy, the shells very delicate 

 and fragile; the ground-colour white, usually shglitly greyish, 

 but in some specimens faintly tinged with very pale green or 

 pink. Typically they are very thickly and very finely speckled all 

 over with somewhat dingy red or purplish red. In three out of 

 four eggs the markings are densest and largest towards the large 

 end ; and, to judge from the large series before me, at least one 

 in four exhibits a more or less well-defined mottled zone or cap 

 at this end, formed by the partial confluence of multitudinous 

 specks. 



In some specimens the markings ai'e pale inky purple, and in 

 some slightly ])urplish brown, but these are abnormal varieties. 

 In one or two eggs fairly-sized spots and blotches are intermingled 

 with the minute specklings, but this also is rare. Of course in 

 different specimens the density of the speckling varies greatly: in 

 some eggs not a fifth of the surface is covered with the markings, 

 while in some it appears as if there were more of these than of the 

 ground-colour. 



In length the eggs vary from 0-55 to 0-6G, and in breadth from 

 0*43 to 0*52 ; but the average of eighty-seven eggs is 0*62 by 

 0-48. 



385. Franklinia cinereicapilla (Ilodgs.). Uod<json's Wren- 

 Warbler. 



Prinia cinereocapilla, Jloch/s., Jerd. B. Ind. u, p. 172 ; Hume, Ilonqh 

 Draft N. .*)• E. no. o87. ' 



Captain Hutton says*: — "In this species the structure of the 

 nest is somewhat coarser than in P. stewarti, and it is more loosely 

 put together, but like that species it is also a true Tailor-bird. 



"In the specimen before me two large leaves are stitched 

 togetlier at the edges, and between these rests the cup-shaped nest 

 composed of grass-stalks and fine roots, as in P. stnvurtl,fi\\(\ with- 

 out any lining, while, being naore completely surrounded by or 

 enfolded in the leaves, the cottony seed-down A\-bich binds to- 

 gether the fibres in the others is here dispensed with. 



" The eggs were three in number, of a pale bluish hue, irrorated 

 with specks of rufous-brown, and chiefly so at the larger end, where 

 they form an ill-defined ring. 



* I reproduce this note as it appeared in the 'Rough Draft,' but I liave no 

 faith in the identification of this rare bird by Capt llutton. Mr. Hume is 

 apparently of the same opinion, as he does not quote tlie Uhoon as one of tbo 

 loealitieB in which this species occui's (S. V. ix, j). 2S()). It may l)c well, 

 however, to point out that Mr. Brooks ])rocured (liis species at Diuiiida, 

 in the liiiagirati valley, so that it is not unlikely to occur in the Dhoon. — Ed. 



