220 Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker on the 



both in coloration and tint^ but not much in character. 

 They may be said to grade from pale sienna to dark vandyke- 

 brown as regards the superior markings^ and from pale grey 

 to dark neutral tint as regards the inferior ones^ . though 

 these latter are often totally absent. In shape they are 

 normally small, with irregular blotches and spots ; in some 

 eggs the whole surface is minutely and profusely speckled, in 

 others the blotches predominate or the specks are altogether 

 wanting, and these eggs are therefore of a bolder appearance. 

 As a rule the marks, of whichever shape they may be, are 

 most numerous at the larger end, and rather sparse com- 

 paratively at the smaller • occasionally they are scattered 

 equally everywhere. Rings or caps are not at all commonly 

 met with ; I have two or three clutches containing one or 

 more eggs which possess them in a slight degree, but none 

 in which they are at all well marked. 



In shape they are broad, very regular ovals, and abnormal 

 eggs are extremely rare. The texture is fine and very smooth, 

 though fragile, showing a faint gloss, not always present and 

 rarely at all strongly developed. Fifty eggs average 0"'67 

 by 0""52, fully, and they range in size between 0"*64 x 0"'49 

 and 0"'69 x 0"'56, but very few eggs will be found that do not 

 measure between 0"'50 and 0"53 in breadth. 



22. YUHINA NIGRIMENTUM. {Otttes, op. cit. i. p. 212.) 

 The nidification of this bird is given in Hume's ' Nests 

 and Eggs,"" vol. i. p. 139, but (as Oates has always thought) 

 the identification l)y Gammie of his nest could not have 

 been correct. That of Jerdon's was, of course, made by 

 a native, and his note is therefore quite valueless. This year 

 I have been fortunate enough to obtain two nests, one of 

 which I practically found and took myself, and which is now 

 in the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. I had 

 been out birds'-nesting, and, on my return to camp, passed a 

 dead tree by the roadside covered with most luxuriant lichen. 

 To get some of this I sent a Naga up the tree, and on 

 climbing up he disturbed a bird ; looking under the bough 

 iji the place whence the bird flew, he found a nest and four 



