298 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Meariis recorded the color of the iris in this bird as bluish gray, but 

 several other observers agree in stating that it is brown, with 3 to C 

 white spots arranged around the dark center. 



The breeding season is in April, May, and June. Erlanger " found 

 two nests near Harrar on May 7 and 9, while Zaphiro found another 

 in the same region in June. Mearns collected three nests with eggs, 

 as follows : 



1. Nest and three eggs, taken at Gato River, on April 21, 1912. The 

 female w as seen sitting on the nest and was shot as she flew from it. 

 Dissection of the bird showed that the last egg had been laid. 



2. Nest and two eggs, taken at Gato River, May 13, 1912. The nest 

 was found on May 11 and had two eggs in it. Two days later it still 

 contained only two eggs, which were slightly incubated. The nest 

 was in a leafy bush near a small thicket in open grassy country. It 

 was 2 feet above the ground. Mearns notes that near by on May 9 he 

 found another nest, with two fresh eggs, about 3 feet up in a thorny 

 solanaceous shrub. The next time seen, the nest had been torn from 

 the bush and the eggs had disappeared. 



3. Nest and two eggs, about 6 feet up in a small spreading tree, at 

 Bodessa, May 31, 1912. The male parent was shot as it flew from the 

 nest, making the identification positive. 



The nests collected are fairly compactly constructed cups of root- 

 lets, tendrils, fine twigs, and grass stems, with a scattering of dead 

 leaves on the outside. They measure approximately 100 mm in 

 diameter (outside measurements, the inside dimensions being about 

 75 mm) and 35 mm in depth. The eggs, as exemplified by the three 

 clutches collected, are extraordinarily variable. The first set listed 

 above are very long, and rather pointed at the small end, and measure 

 25 by 19.5, 26.5 by 18.5, and 27 by 18.5 mm. The second set are 

 rounder, more bluntly elliptical, and much shorter. They measure 

 21 by 18 and 22.5 by 18 nun. The third set are intermediate in size 

 and shape, and measure 23.5 by 18 and 23.6 by 18.1 mm. The long, 

 . large eggs of set No. 1 are more heavily marked than the others, the 

 small, rounded eggs of set No. 2 being the most lightly marked. All 

 are white, with purplish-brown and gi^ayish spots and specks. In the 

 large, heavily marked eggs, there is a well-defined ring of dark, heavy 

 spots around the large pole; in the small, lightly marked ones, the 

 spots are replaced by fine hairlike lines distributed quite evenly all 

 over the eggs. 



Besides the specimens collected, Mearns noted this bush shrike as 

 follows : Aletta and Loco, March 7-13, 10 seen ; Loco, March 13-15, 

 10 noted; Gidabo River, March 15-17, 10 birds; the Abaya Lakes, 

 March 18-26, 100 noted; between the Abaya Lakes and Gardula, 



"Journ. fur Orn., 1905, p. 692, 



