PERICROCOTUS. 343 



On this occasion the t«o ohl birds evinced signs of the greatest 

 anxiety, the hen remaining on the nest till the boy was close to 

 her, and, joined by the cock immediately she left it, the pair kept 

 flying from bough to bough in the greatest possible state of excite- 

 ment the whole time the nest was being taken, the hen actually 

 once or twice going on to the nest again after she had left it, when 

 the boy was within 3 feet of her. On examining the nest 1 found 

 that one of the branches of the fork consisted of a small rotten 

 stump, similar to the one de-cribed hi the first nest, and in the 

 bottom of both nests there were three or four small black downy 

 feathers, intenningled with the dead haf-stems that constituted 

 the lining." 



In his recent " Notes on Birds'-nesting in Eajpootana," Lieut. 

 H. E. Barnes writes, " The 8mall MiniA^et breeds during July and 

 August." 



Mr, Benjamin Aitken writes : — " You say that the Small 

 Minivet lays during the latter half of June and throughout July 

 and August. I would therefore remark that on the 11th Novem- 

 ber, 1871, I saw several newly-fledged young ones at Poena. 

 There could be no mistake about this, as I stood under the tree, 

 which was a small one, and saw the young ones being fed." 



Messrs. Davidson and Wenden remark that in the Deccan it is 

 " common, and breeds in the rains." 



The latter gentleman subsequently added the following note : — 

 " In July, my men found a nest with two eggs at Nulwar, Deccan. 

 It was built on a small branch of a tamarind-tree, 20 feet from the 

 ground. The nest is similar to that described in the ' Kough Draft ' 

 as being found at Allyghur. The whole of the bark used on the 

 outer coating is that of tamarind-tree, and there are a good many 

 feathers and much down incorporated into the structure, inside and 

 out. The eggs differ considerably in colouring. In both the 

 ground-colour is greenish white. One is profusely speckled all 

 over, but more thickly at the smaller end, with brownish red and a 

 few purple blotches, whilst the other egg has the specks less 

 numerous but larger, and chiefly on the larger end, with little or 

 no purple, and the small end alaiost unsullied." 



Finally, Mr. Oates records that " in Lower Pegu nests of this 

 bird may be found from the end of April to the middle of June." 

 The eggs are of a rather broad oval shape, and, as is often the 

 ease even in the typical Shrikes, very blunt at both ends. The 

 ground-colour is a pale delicate greenish \\hite, and they are more 

 or less richly marked with bright, slightly brownish-red specks, 

 spots, and blotches, \\hich, always more numerous at the large end, 

 have a tendency there to form a mottled irregular cap. In many 

 eggs, besides these primary markings, a number of small faint 

 patches and blotches of pale inky purple are observable, almost 

 exclusively at the large end. The eggs appear to be quite devoid 

 of gloss. I have eggs both of Copsijclms saularis and Thamnohia 

 camhaiensis, strange as it may seem, closely resembling, except in 

 size, some types of this bird's egg ; and I have one egg of Merula 



