360 Mr. J. D. D. La Touohe on the 



and flower-spikes of the sword-grass. In shape it is some- 

 what like the nest of Suya ci'inigera, but it is much smaller. 

 It is perfectly oval, the back of the nest well rounded, while 

 the front is rather flat. The aperture is on the upper 

 half of the front side. There is a thin lining of long hair. 

 There were four eggs. Three are typical eggs of P. sonitans, 

 ground-colour pale red, heavily marked or sufi'used with a 

 deeper shade of red which almost conceals the ground-colour. 

 They are highly glossy, and the shape of two is ovate, that of 

 the third being a somewhat rounded ovate. They measure 

 0''-63 X 0''-47, 0''-61 X 0''-48, Q"-Q X 0'''48. 



The fourth egg found in this nest is nearly twice the size 

 of the others, and must, I think, be that of Cuculus inter- 

 medius. The finder of the nest said it was a double-yolked 

 egg, but, if the size of P. sonitans be considered, that is 

 impossible. The ground-colour of this egg is much lighter 

 than that of the others, and it is heavily but very distinctly 

 mottled with a shade of red, darker and of a more brick-red 

 tint than that with which the small eggs are sufi'used. The 

 shape is oval, both ends being blunt and one end only very 

 slightly smaller than the other. The texture of the shell is 

 coarser and is not nearly so glossy. It measures 0''*82 

 by 0''-58. 



These four eggs were somewhat incubated. 



14. Prinia inornata Sykes. 



Abundant in the Tamsui district. A great many nests 

 and several clutches of eggs were brought to me during 

 the last ten days of June. The ground-colour of the eggs 

 is a pale greenish turquoise-blue, with, in one clutch, a 

 pattern of round spots and a few splashes of several shades 

 of rich madder or reddish-brown with underlying pinkish lilac 

 blotches. Others have large blotches of pale reddish brown, 

 irregular spots of several shades of rich red or madder- 

 brown, and hair-lines ; while a few have confluent spots 

 round the thick end of the egg. All have underlying blotches 

 or spots of pinkish lilac. Several eggs, since obtained at 

 Foochow, have the ground-colour distinctly green. 



