62 Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker on the 



gloss. Thirty eggs average rather under 0"'83 by 0"'61, 

 varying in length between 0"*78 and 0"-S7, and in breadth 

 between 0"-58 and 0"-62. 



These birds breed in deep valleys at a height of over 2000 

 feet^ and I have also taken two nests on or near the Hungrum 

 range at an elevation of over 5000 feet. Four is the normal 

 complete number of eggs, but I have more than once taken 

 two eggs hard-set. They lay in the latter end of April, and 

 eggs may be taken well on into July, the 21st of that month 

 being the latest I have found any. 



19. SiTTiPARUs ciNEREus. ( Ocf^es, op. cit. i. p. 171 .) 

 Tlie nest of this little Tit-Babbler is very like that of 

 Schoeniparus, but is generally composed chiefly of bamboo- 

 leaves, and is sometimes domed. Three nests taken in July 

 1893 were all shaped differently, and show well the different 

 forms to be met with, as well as tlie materials used in con- 

 struction. One was a very deep cup about 4" deep by 2"'5 

 in diameter externally, the cavity measuring about 2"'5 deep 

 by 1""5 across at the wide?t part, and about l"-2 at the top, 

 where the materials were drawn closer together by the weeds 

 and roots used to bind tliera. The whole of the nest was of 

 bamboo-leaves and fern-fronds, all dry and dark-coloured, 

 bound together with fern-roots and weed-stems, and lined 

 with very fine shreds of grass and a few fine fern-roots. 



The second nest was like the common form, already de- 

 scribed, of Schoeniparus, but the side which was prolonged 

 was more bulky, and even more brought forward and down- 

 ward, so that the nest was almost more than semi-domed. 

 The materials employed were much the same as in the last, but 

 no fern-roots were used in the lining. This nest measured 

 about 5" in height by about 3" in breadth, and internally the 

 diameter was 1""8, the entrance being 1""2, and in the nar- 

 rowest part the same as the diameter lower down. The third 

 nest was completely domed, but otherwise diff'ered in con- 

 struction from the other two merely in having no grass in 

 the lining, this being made of fern- and moss-roots only. It 



