On the Nidification of Indian Birds. 217 



same part of the gallery^ which was an enormous one in a 

 rush-bed. The nests and eggs are similar to those of L. ma- 

 culipennis, excepting that there is less variation in the colour 

 of the eggSj and their average size is a shade larger. 



XVIII. — Notes on the Nidification of some Indian Birds not 

 mentioned iti Hume's ' Nests and Eggs.'' — Part II. By E. C. 

 Stuart Baker, F.Z.S. 



[Continued from p. 64.] 



20. LioPTiLA ANNECTENs. ( Ofl^e*, Fauna of British India, 

 Birds, i. p. 199.) 



The nest of Blyth's Sibia is a deep cup strongly, though 

 rather loosely, built, with massive walls and base, averaging 

 nearly 6 inches in outward diameter by some 3 in depth, 

 and with a cavity measuring about 4 inches or less by about 

 1"*6 in depth. Some few nests are deeper, the cup being as 

 much as 2"'5 internally. All the nests I have seen (now 

 some seven or eight) appear to consist of three very distinct 

 parts. The outer shell is formed mainly of living moss and 

 moss-roots, more or less intermixed with a little grass, a 

 few leaves, tendrils, weed-stems, or similar materials. Inside 

 this, and below the true lining, is a layer of grass and roots, 

 often much mixed with the thin soft stems of some her- 

 baceous plant, whilst the actual lining consists of fine fern- 

 and moss-roots, and also of the stems of maiden-hair fern. 

 The nest of L. capistrata found by Captain Cock seems to 

 have been lined in much the same manner (Hume^s 'Nests 

 and Eggs,' vol. i. p. 134). Unlike its nearest allies, which 

 appear to place their nests in very elevated positions, this 

 Sibia seldom builds more than 20 feet or so from the ground, 

 generally selecting a slender branch on the outside and at 

 the top of some small sapling standing in thin evergreen- 

 forest. I have not, however, taken its nest from deep forest 

 and never from open country, but have had one brought to 

 me which the bearer said he had found in a densely-wooded 

 hollow near the summit of a lofty grass-covered hill. The 



