Nidijication of Indian Birds. 57 



on the 18tli of July, 1893. The et'^gs are either tlirce or 

 four in number, occasionally only two. 



]5. CoRYTHOCICHLA STRIATA. [OttteS, Op. cit. i. p. 148.) 



The nest of this bird is a deep massive cup, one side much pro- 

 longed and slightly overhanging the egg-eavity^ the structure 

 in one or two cases being almost semi-domed. The materials 

 consist chiefly of dead leaves and fern-fronds bound together 

 ■with coarse fern- and moss-roots ; in one or two nests I have 

 seen a few broad grass-blades and bamboo-leaves mixed in 

 with the rest, and in one or two also I have seen weed-stems 

 used for binding purposes^ together with the fern-roots. 

 The lining is merely a neat mass of dead leaves. The most 

 striking thing about the nest is its invariable very dark 

 colour, no materials except such as are damp and semi-rotten 

 being used, even such few scraps of grass and bamboo-leaves 

 as are selected being disdained unless they have acquired a 

 dirty reddish-brown tinge. It is always, I believe, placed 

 on, or practically on, the ground. One nest I found 

 at the foot of a railway-survey pillar, wedged in between two 

 of the large stones which formed its base, and concealed by 

 rank weeds and grass. Another was taken from the decom- 

 posed mass of vegetation lying at the foot of a large tree, 

 scanty weeds growing round it and helping to screen it from 

 view, though its dark dirty-looking aspect agreed so well 

 with the rotten stuff on which it rested, that additional con- 

 cealment was scarcely necessary. 



Other nests I have taken from amongst moss and living 

 bright-green bushes, &c., and in all cases these have been 

 most carefully hidden, as otherwise the dark tint of the nest, 

 contrasting with its surroundings, would have at once 

 attracted attention. From their position and construction 

 the nests bear but little handling, though when actually in 

 situ they seem well enough put together. 



I think four is the full and general complement of eggs 

 laid, though I have taken one clutch of three and another 

 of two, both of which were partly incubated. On another 

 occasion I took a nest which contained two half-fledged 



