JiATICILLA. 247 



" The eggs measured 0-02 by 0'44. 



" The nest was found hanging on a large-leafed annual slirul) 

 growing in the Dhoon, and was placed about 2 feet from the 

 ground. It was taken on 22nd Jul}'." 



386. Laticilla burnesi (Bl. ). The Lon/j-talled Gra>(s-WarJ)ler. 

 Eurycercus buniesii, Bl., Jercl. B. Ind. ii, p. 74. 



Mr. S. B. Doig appears to be the only ornithologist who has 

 found the nest of the Long-tailed Grass-Warbler. Writing of the 

 Eastern Xarra District, in 8iud, he says : — 



" This bird is in certain localities very numerous, but invariably 

 confines itself to dense thickets of reed and tamarisk jungle. The 

 discoveiy of my first nest was as follows : 



" On the 13th March, while closely searching some thick grass 

 along the banks of a small canal, I heard a peculiar t\\ ittering which 

 I did not recognize. After standing perfectly still for a short 

 while, I at length caught sight of the bird, which I at once identified 

 as L. huraesi. Leaving the bed of the canal in which I was walking 

 and making a slight detour, I came suddenly over the spoil- bank 

 of the canal on to the place where the bird had been calling. 

 My sudden appearance caused the bird to get very excited, and it 

 kept on twittering, approaching me at one time until quite close 

 and then going away again a short distance ; I at once began 

 searching for its nest, and out of the first tussock of grass I touched, 

 close to where I was standing, flew the female, who joined her mate, 

 after which both birds kept up a contiiuious and angry twittering. 

 On opening out the grass, I found the nest with three fresh eggs 

 in it, placed right in the centre of the tuft and close to the ground. 

 The eggs \^ere of a pale green ground-colour, covered with large 

 irregular blotches of purplish brown, and not very unlike some of 

 the eggs of Passer flavlcoUis. After this I found several nests, but 

 they were all building, and were one and all deserted, though in 

 Bjany instances I never touched the nest, often never saw it, as on 

 seeing the birds flying in and out of the grass with building material 

 in their bills I left the place and returned in ten days' time, but 

 only to find the nest deserted. In one case where a single egg had 

 been laid, I found that the bird before deserting the nest had broken 

 the egg. In July I again got a nest and shot the parent birds ; 

 the eggs in this nest were quite of a different type, being of a very 

 pale cream ground-colour, with large rusty blotches, principally 

 confined to the larger end. The nests of this bird are composed 

 of coarse grass, the inside being composed of the finer parts ; they 

 are 4 to 5 inches external diameter and 2^ inches internal diameter, 

 the cavity being about 1| inches deep. The months in which they 

 breed are, as far as I at present know, March, June, and September. 

 The eggs vary in size from "05 to •80 in length and from •50 to •S.S 

 in breadth. The average of seven eggs is -72 in length and •54 

 in breadth." 



