The Nesf.iiuj of f lie Indian White-eye, 227 



Not till they had been with me for some weeks did they 

 give indications of being- a true pair. Then I caught 

 them carrying bents into a large elder tree, but could trace 

 no signs of the beginning of a nest, I only got occasional 

 glimpses of them, and sometimes missed them for days. On 

 the evening of June 27th I noticed one of them fly from the 

 tip of a hawthorn brancli, and a dangling piece of hay caused 

 me to investigate, and I then found a nest which contained 

 a clutch of eggs (pale bluish-white). The birds, for both 

 shared the duties of incubation, sat very closely and did not 

 leave their eggs unless one approached within a foot of their 

 domicile, but the bird returntd at once on the "objectionable" 

 person's withdrawal. 



The nest was somewhat like its builders, apparently 

 fragile but really strong, and when the young had flown, it 

 was as clean and as perfect as the day when I first dis- 

 covered it, save that the edges had been a little trodden down 

 by the parent birds, while feeding their young. I hope the 

 photos taken (during strong wind), will be sufficiently clear 

 to indicate the character and construction of the nest — a sus- 

 pended pocket, barely two and a half inches in diameter by 

 two inches deep, neatly constructed of hay, lined internally 

 with fine hay and a few feathers. 



A nest was constructed in the aviary of our esteemed 

 member Capt. G. A. Perreau, at Bakloh, entirely of teazed 

 string (vide Bird Notes Vol. I., N.S., p. 179), a clutch of 

 three eggs was laid, but the young were not reared (vide p. 

 117, current vol.)— incubation (India) lasted ten days (see 

 also Capt. Perreau's notes on this species in B.N., Vol. Vlli., 

 p. 218 and 282). 



I regrei that my data are somewhat modified by the 

 fact that the birds had commenced to incubate, but I think 

 it may be safely assumed that they had but just begun their 

 incubatory duties when the nest was discovered 



Nest containing three eggs discovered on the evening pf 

 June 27th. 



Three chicks hatched early morning of July 7th. 



Three fully fledged birds left nest evening of July iTEh. 



Young birds fending for themselves August 1st. 



It would thus appear that the incubation period for 

 this country 'is ten to eleven days, and that the young leave 



