250 SYLYIID.i:. 



and assimilated well with the dry and entangled stems among which 

 it lay. The uest was vei-y deep and purse-shaped. It was about 

 y iiu-hes in total height at the back, and some 2 inches lower in 

 front, the upper part of the purse being as it \\ere cut off slantingly, 

 and thus leaving an entrance which was more or less circular. The 

 width is 6^ inches, and the breadth from front to back 4 inches. 

 The interior is smooth, lined with somewhat finer grass, and 

 measures 4 inches in depth by 3 iuches from side to side, and by 

 2 inches from front to back. 



'•'■ Meyalurus palustris is very common throughout the large plains 

 lying between the Pegu and Sittaug Rivers. At the end of May 

 they were all breeding. The nest is, hou ever, diificult to find, owing 

 to the \ast extent of favourable ground suited lo its habits. E\ery 

 yard of the land produces a clum]) of grass likely enough to hold a 

 nest, and as the lemale sits still till the nest is actually touched, it 

 becomes a difficult and laborious task to find the nest." 



He subsequently remarks : — " May seems to be the month in 

 which these birds lay here. The nest is very often placed on the 

 ground under the shelter of some grass-tuft." 



Mr. Cockburn writes to me : — " 1 found a nest of this bird on 

 the north bank of the Bramaputra, near Sadija. One of the birds 

 darted off the nest a foot or two from me in an excited way, which 

 led me to search. The nest was almost a perfect oval, with a slice 

 taken off at the top on one side, built in a clump of grass, and only 

 9 or 10 inches from the ground. It \\-as made of sarpat-grass, and 

 lined internally with finer grasses. The grass had a bleached and 

 washed-out appearance, while the clump was quite green. This 

 was on the 2'Jth May. I noticed at the same time that the nest 

 was not interwoven with the living grass. I j-emovedit easily with 

 the hand.'" 



Mr. Cripps says : — " They breed in April and May in the 

 Dibrugarh district, placing their deep cup-shaped nests in tussocks 

 of grass M herever it is swampy, in some instances the bottoms of the 

 nests being wet. Four seems to be the greatest number of eggs in 

 a nest." 



The eggs are much the same shape and size as those of Acroee- 

 2jh(dus stcntnreus. They have a dead-white ground, thickly s]:)eck]ed 

 and spotted with blackish and purplish brown, and have but a slight 

 gloss ; the speckling, e\ery\\here thick, is generally densest at the 

 large end, and there chietly do spots, as big as an ordinary pin's 

 head, occur. At the hirge end, besides these specklings, there is a 

 cloudy, dull, irregular cap, or else isolated patches, of very pale 

 inky purple, which more or less obscure the ground-colour. In 

 the peculiar speckly character of the markings these eggs recall 

 doubtless some specimens of the eggs of the different Bulbuls, but 

 their natural aifinities seem to be with those of the AcrocepIi(ilin<i>. 

 The eggs vary from 0-8 to 0-97 in length, and from 0-0 1 to 

 0-G9 in breadth ; btit the average of twelve eggs is O'So by 0-04. 



