58 Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker on the 



young. The eggs are white, marked with small spots and 

 freckles of pinky red and pinky brown, none very deep and 

 none very pale ; the secondary markings are of pale pinkish 

 purple, larger than the primary markings. These, as well 

 as the subordinate spots and blotches, are rather sparingly 

 scattered over the whole e^g, rather more numerous towards 

 the large end than elsewhere, where also they sometimes 

 form a ring or cap, but always indistinct and very roughly 

 defined. In shape the eggs are broad ovals, very slightly 

 compressed towards the smaller end, which is very blunt. 



Fourteen eggs average 0"'8l by 0"'6. The largest egg is 

 0"-83 by 0"-62, and the smallest 0"-78 by 0"-59. The surface 

 is close, fine, and hard, and shows a decided gloss. 



16. Stachyrhis assimilis. [Oates, op. cit. i. p. 163.) 



There is practically nothing to note in the nidification of 

 this little bird different from that of S. chrysaa. 



It builds a nest shaped either like a very deep cup, semi- 

 domed or completely so, in the same way as do other birds 

 of the genera Stachyrhis and Stachyrhidopsis. When placed 

 under shelter sufficiently complete to entirely cover the nest 

 the cup-shaped sort is built, and one sixth of the nests will 

 be found of this shape, about one third of the semi-domed 

 type, and the remaining half fully domed. The majority of 

 the nests I have taken have been found resting either actually 

 or very nearly on the ground, sometimes placed amongst 

 a lot of damp close-growing plants, sometimes at the foot of 

 some bush or at the base of a bamboo-clump. Others are 

 placed in shrubs, generally in low bushy ones, or at some 

 height from the ground in a bamboo-bush or clump. 

 Wherever placed the materials seem to be always the same, 

 viz. bamboo-leaves, either entire or in shreds. Sometimes, 

 but by no means invariably, there is a scanty lining of fine 

 shreds of leaves or fine grasses. 



The following are the measurements of three nests, one of 

 each type : — 



Completely domed. — Height 4"-8, diameter 2"-9. Internal 

 diameter about 2" by rather more than 2"- 5 in height. En- 

 trance about 1"'2. 



