412 Mr. C. E. Stuart Baker on Indian 



Cissce, or Green IMagpies, and to the Garruli, or Jays, and 

 he will find that he can obtain an ahnost unbroken gradation 

 of colouring from the most typical Crowd's egg to the most 

 aberrant one of Dendrocitta. 



Eggs, therefore, in the Corvina bear out the classification 

 obtained by other means. 



Next come the Parince. In this subfamily the eggs are very 

 characteristic. The colour ranges from a pure white, which is 

 exceptional, to a faint pinkish white densely speckled with red, 

 sometimes so dark as to appear black. In texture the shell 

 is remarkably constant, being smooth, but not highly glossed, 

 and often somewhat porous, while the shape is typically a 

 broad, obtuse oval. This subfamily calls for no remark. 



The third subfamily, or Poraduxormthince , is by far the most 

 interesting ; but, unfortunately, it is also the least known. 

 It contains a number of birds, which in general outward 

 structure are sui generis ; their most typical characteristic 

 being undoubtedly the bill, which is short and very deep, 

 though variable in these respects. In plumage, and in the 

 structure of the wings and tail, they seem to belong rather 

 to the CrateropodulcB than to the Corvidce. Again, in habits — 

 and I am very well acquainted with several members of the 

 constituent genera — the birds are distinctly far nearer to 

 Babblers of some sort than to either Crows or Titmice. 



Now let us see what the eggs tell us. First, w^e are met 

 with the remarkable fact that this subfamily contains birds 

 which lay eggs of absolutely different types. In Conostoma, 

 Paradoxnrnis, and Scoiorhynchus the ground-colour is white 

 or nearly so, in the latter case merely tinted with some shade 

 of yellow, grey, or brown. The markings consist of indefinite 

 specks, spots, blotches, and cloudings of grey, sienna-brown, 

 dull purple, and lavender ; in !>ome specimens they may be 

 very sparse indeed (I have one of Paradoxornis flavirostris 

 which is almost wliitej, in others rather dense, but there 

 is a regular gradation between all the variations. In Suthora, 

 the fourth Indian genus of this subfamily, the eggs are in 

 colour like those of the Hedge-Sparrow. Very few of them 

 indeed have been taken, but all yet found, whether in India, 



