40 Messrs. La Touclie and Rickett on the 



any materials that come handy, even such as string, paper, 

 hair, and rags. It is very conspicuously placed in some 

 pine or tall tree at a good height from the ground. 



The eggs are laid in April, and number from four to six 

 in a clutch. They are greenish blue, with a considerable 

 amount of gloss. In shape they vary from narrowly ovate 

 to oval. Thirty-nine specimens average 1*25 x *91 in. There 

 are two, or perhaps three, broods in a season. 



These birds' antics at pairing-time are most absurd to 

 watch. One sidles up to its mate uttering its everlasting 

 " tee-a-chee " with widely open bill, the other sits with puffed- 

 out plumage, its bill buried in the breast-feathers ; then 

 follows a sham squabble, consisting of much snapping of 

 beaks and playful peckings, after which they fly off to 

 another tree and repeat the performance. Young birds 

 when following their parents constantly utter a harsh 

 " tcherk." 



Acridotheres cristatellus (Linn.) : Ibis, 1898, p. 369. 



This common resident breeds in holes in trees and walls, 

 as well as under the eaves of houses. The nest is a regular 

 rubbish-heap of dry grass, straw, leaves, feathers, &c. The 

 wing- and tail-feathers of Pigeons, Kites, Crows, and Magpies 

 are largely used. In every nest examined by Rickett there 

 was a snake's slough or part of one, and our men were 

 once told by a native that every Mynah's nest was thus 

 provided. 



The eggs are pale greenish blue. These birds are very 

 noisy and pugnacious in spring. 



Terpsiphone inch (Gould). 



A summer -visitor to the plains and low hills about 

 Foochow. It breeds in May, placing its nest on a hori- 

 zontal branch or in the fork of an upright from six to 

 about fifteen feet from the ground. 



The structure is a beautifully firm and compact little cup, 

 from 3 to 4 inches in external diameter, 2 to 2^ inches in 

 internal diameter; the outer depth is from 2^ to 3£ inches, 

 the depth of cup from 1^ to If inches. The materials used 



