PEINIA. 305 



Mr. C. J". W. Taylor, writing from Manzeerabad, ]\Iysore, says : — 

 "Fairly common throughout the district. Eggs taken on the 15th 

 July, 1882." 



Mr. Ehodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, remarks : — " It 

 builds a neat pendent nest in long grass on the Nilgiris. The nest 

 is composed entirely of short pieces of grass tatted together, and is 

 very compact. The eggs are three in number, and ai'e of a blue 

 colour, \^ith large blotches and hair-like streaks of a dark reddish 

 brown at the upper end. An egg measured -69 inch by '5." 



The eggs of this species do not differ materially in size, shape, 

 or markings from those of P. inomata, which are very fully 

 described above. 



468. Prinia blanfordi (Walden). The Burmese Wren-Warbler. 

 Di-yinoeca blanfordi, Wahl., Hume, Cat. no. 543 ter. 



Mr. Gates, who found this bird very common in Pegu, writes : — 

 " The Burmese Wren-AVarbler is perhaps the commoi:!est bird 

 of the Pegu plains. From M}dtkyo on the Sittang, and possibly 

 from further north, down to Eangoon, it is to be found in all the 

 low tracts covered with grass. 



" Where it occurs it is a constant resident and breeds from May 

 to August. I have found the nest in the middle of 3Iay, but it is 

 not till July that the bulk of the birds lay. 



" The nest is never more than 4 feet from the ground, and is 

 attached either to two or more stalks of elephant-grass or to the 

 stem of a low weed, or to the blades of certain tender grasses which 

 grow in thick tufts. There is little or no attempt at concealment. 

 The materials forming the nest are entirely fine grasses, of equal 

 coarseness or fineness throughout, gathered green, and so beauti- 

 fully woven together that it is almost impossible to destroy a nest 

 by tearing it asunder, although it may be looked through. In 

 shape it is somewhat of a cylinder, with a tendency to swell out 

 at the middle. Its length, or rather height (for its longer axis, 

 being invariably parallel to the stalks to which the nest is attached, 

 is generally upright), is from 6 to 8 inches, and its extreme width 4. 

 The entrance is placed at the top of the nest, the sides of which are 

 produced an inch or two above the lower edge of the entrance. 

 The thickness of the walls is very small, seldom reaching half, and 

 generally being only a quarter, of an inch. Occasionally the nest 

 is almost globular, but the back of the entrance is in every case 

 produced upwards some inches. There is no lining at ail. 



" The eggs never exceed four, and frequently are only three, in 

 number, and the female does not commence sitting till the full 

 number is laid. She deserts the nest on the slightest provocation ; 

 and if a nest with only one or two eggs is found, and the fingers 

 inserted, it is useless to leave the eggs in hopes of getting more. 

 She will lay no more. I have tested this in at least ten cases." 



Major C. T. Bingham tells us : — " About Ktiukarit, on the 

 VOL. I. 20 



