PEEICROCOTUS. 341 



Avliat looked like spider's web ; attached to this web-like substance 

 here and there, for better disguise, were the dry leaves of the 

 tamariud-tree ; the lining of very fine grass. The outer diameter 

 of a nest may fairly be given at 2*2 inches, inner at 1'8, depth of 

 nest 0-9. Two is the regular lunnber of eggs, at least that was 

 the number in the three nests I took. In colour they are of a 

 pale greenish white, sparingly speckled on the narrower half of 

 the egg with brownish spots, but they have on the broader half the 

 spots more dense, and forming at the end a more or less complete 

 cap. The feat of securing a nest is a most hazardous one, for it 

 is always fixed close in between two delicate forks at the extreme 

 end of a slight side-branch near to the top of the tree. On each 

 occasion that the nest was detected the male bird was found flitting 

 about near to it, the female all the while sitting on the eggs. On 

 the last two occasions of finding the nests, it was this flitting to 

 and fro of the male that attracted us ; otherwise the nest is so 

 small that from the ground the eye can scarcely distinguish it from 

 the branch. The bird appears to be migi-atory, for since the 

 termination of the breeding-season it has disappeared from these 

 parts." 



Major C. T. Bingham writes to me :—" Although this bird is 

 common enough both at Allahabad and at Delhi, I have found it 

 difficult to find its nest, from the fact that it is placed at the very 

 extreme tip of leafy branches. However, with careful watching 

 and patience, I managed to find one nest at Allahabad and five at 

 Delhi. The first I found ou the 3rd July at Chupree near Alla- 

 habad. It contained two \\ell-fledged young ones, that hopped 

 out as soon as the nest was touched. Out of the five at Delhi I 

 managed to get six eggs ; three of the nests \\hen found being 

 empty, were afterwards deserted by the birds. Of the two nests 

 with eggs, one contained four and the other two. The nests are 

 tiny little cups, made of very fine grass, and coated externally 

 with cobwebs, to which are attached bits of bark and dry leaves. 

 The eggs are a greenish stone-colour, thickly speckled with light 

 purple and brownish red. The earliest nest t have found was ou 

 the 21st March, on the banks of the canal at Delhi, so that the 

 bird occasionally, at Delhi at least, lays in spring. The average 

 of eggs I have is 0-6S in length, and 0-55 in breadth." 



Colonel E. A. Butler furnishes us with the following interesting 

 note : — " Found a nest at Belgaum, containing two fresh eggs, on 

 the 3rd September, 1870. It was situated in the fork of one of 

 the small outer top branches of a tall mango-tree, and was on the 

 whole about the prettiest nest 1 have seen in India. It consisted 

 of a tiny cup about 1^x2 inches measured interiorly, and 1| x 2| 

 inches exteriorly. Depth inside 1 inch, outside 1^ inches from 

 rim to proper base, excluding about an inch of lichen continued 

 down one side of the bough below the fork in which the nest was 

 built. It was composed, so far as I could judge after a very 

 minute examination, almost entirely of the white lichen which 

 grows so freely on the bark of every tree during the rains, with a 



