542 Mr. W. Jesse on the 



Avlietlier building or with eggs, in possession of iliree birds, 

 two females and one male. What is the exact duty of this 

 second wife I cannot make out. Possibly she may be a 

 drudge. That she exists I have satisfied myself time after 

 time, and so convinced are the Martiniere boys of the fact 

 that they — no mean observers, by the way — rarely trouble to 

 look for a nest if only one female is present. Unfortunately 

 I have never yet found out what happens when there are 

 young. Whether both females take part in incubation 

 and in rearing the young, I do not know. I do not think 

 that both lay eggs, as I have never found more than three. 

 I wonder whether the second wife is pressed into service, 

 or whether two are taken on trial and the barren one 

 dispensed with. 



The great majority of these birds breed with us in March 

 and April', but I. have taken nests in May, and once a 

 single hard-set egg as late as July 26. This strikes me 

 as curious, seeing that Oates gives the breeding-season as 

 "from June to October.'^ The eggs are somewhat variable 

 in coloration : I have them white with large brown blotches, 

 and white spotted with rusty red like those of Parus 

 major; but the majority, I think, are bluish white, with 

 various markings of brown, purple, and claret. Several of 

 these eggs, as also those of other birds which breed on inacces- 

 sible boughs, I have obtained by the following device : — A 

 sheet is held underneath the nest by four men, one at each 

 corner. Another ascends the tree, and, with a long stick, 

 carefully pushes the eggs one by one out of the nest. Unless 

 they fall against some twig on the way the chances are ten 

 to one on their being taken safely from the sheet. 



Average of 17 Lucknow eggs 'GC-)" X '-"'l" 



Measureuieiit of largest egg 'eS" X "oS" 



„ .smallest egg- -Gl" X '49" 



No. 508. ^Campophaga sykesi. Black-headed Cuckoo- 

 Shrike. 



Jungle-Warbler [Anglo-Indian boys]. 



The Black-headed Cuckoo-Shrike visits Lucknow about 

 May, and leaves at the end of the "^ rains " ; at any rate, I 



