Nesting of Birds in Fohkien. 37 



Sixteen eggs average *60 x *45 in. ; they are pale red, 

 heavily suffused with a darker shade. 



Lanius schach Linn. : Ibis, 1894, p. 217. 



This handsome resident species retires to the low brush- 

 wood-covered hills in April for nesting-purposes. It builds 

 in some thick bush, or clump of "sword-grass," a large, 

 deep, and substantial cup-shaped nest of twigs, coarse roots, 

 tendrils, bamboo-leaves, and dry grass, lined with fine dry 

 grass and seeding grass-spikes. 



The eggs are from four to six in number and ovate in 

 shape. 



A clutch taken by La Touche at Amoy were pale yellowish 

 green, with irregular spots of pale brownish red of two or 

 three shades over spots of two shades of reddish grey and 

 lavender- grey. They had a cap of red surface-spots over 

 confluent underlying blotches. 



The markings in all the eggs which we obtained are most 

 numerous at the larger end, where they tend to form a cap 

 or ring. 



Sixteen eggs average 1*03 X '78 in. 



Lanius fuscatus Less. : Ibis, 1894, p. 219. 



The young birds described by the Rev. H. H. Slater were 

 no doubt, as he wrote in the footnote to Rickett's article 

 under this heading, "young L. fuscatus of pure blood." 



We have never obtained the eggs of this species. 



Pericrocotus cantonensis Swinhoe. 



A common summer-visitor to the plains, arriving early in 

 April and leaving in October. 



It commences building at the end of April or early in May. 

 The nest is placed on the branch of a pine or some other 

 tree, near to but not in a fork. It is a beautifully neat 

 little cup, generally with perpendicular walls. The sides are 

 thin, and there is often no real bottom, the eggs having 

 only the thin lining materials between them and the branch. 

 If taken in wet weather, or allowed to get damp, the nest 

 becomes quite soft and gummy, regaining its firmness when 



