Birds' Eggs and their Variations. 41^ 



Chiua^ or Malaya^ have been of this colour^ and we must 

 accejit it as a fact that they are blue, surprising as it may be. 

 Now none of these eggs bear any resemblance to those of 

 either Tits or Crows, — nor are any of the nests like theirs ; 

 on the other hand, they do bear a very strong resemblance to 

 certain eggs of the Crateropodida. Those of the first-named 

 three genera are, in character, shape, and texture, extremely 

 like some laid by the Tit-Babblers, such as Mandelli^s Tit- 

 Babbler [Schoeniparus mandellii), and in character and shape 

 like some belonging to the Yellow-eyed Babblers (Pgctorhis). 



The lovely blue eggs of Suthora are like many Cratero- 

 podine eggs, such as those of the White-eyes ^. 



The nests of the members of all the genera of this sub- 

 family are wonderfully alike, and approach more nearly those 

 of the Babblers than those of the Crows. 



We therefore learu that Scaorhynchus is nearer Paradox- 

 ornis than is Suthora, and that the position of these two 

 genera in ^The Fauna of British India ^ should be reversed. 

 Furthermore, the eggs and nests in the subfamily show 

 affinities not to the Corvidce, but to the Crater opodidce, and 

 when taken in conjunction with the habits and manners, 

 and in the absence of internal anatomical evidence to the 

 contrary, prove, I think, that it is to the latter family that 

 it must be allied. 



The next family is the Crateropodidce, a huge series, 

 containing in Oates's book no less than 253 species, while 

 more have since been obtained, bringing the number up to 

 the vast total of 258. 



This great mass has been divided into five subfamilies, 

 which we will take one by one. The first is the Crateropod- 

 ince, which contains the birds known as Laughing Thrushes, 

 Babblers (of the " Seven-sisters " kind), and Scimitar 

 Babblers. Now the characteristic point about the oology 

 of this subfamily is that the eggs are whole-coloured, i. e., 

 they are all white or all blue ; but amongst the diflercBt 

 genera there is one in which the eggs of certain members 

 are sometimes wholly blue and sometimes spotted, and of 

 * Mr. Oattis places Zosterops in his Crateropodidce. 



