Birds of North- IV est Fohkien. 205 



ground. The female was sitting and was rather shy, darting 

 out as soon as the nest was approaehed, and flying some 

 distance away, but soon returning to the close neighbour- 

 hood of the nest. After some time Wang Wang managed to 

 shoot her. This bird is of the smaller and brighter form of 

 P. trochiloides , which I then took to be distinct from the 

 large and dark birds, but which Mr. Ogilvie Grant considers 

 to be simply P. trochiloides. The nest is made of two kinds 

 of moss and a little coarse grass. It is domed, with the 

 aperture in front near the top, some of the fine long moss of 

 which the nest is composed exteriorly hanging in front like 

 a beard. There is one feather inside, but no lining. The 

 total length, hanging moss excluded, is 5 inches; the width 

 is about 3 inches, and tlie depth from front to back is 

 3 inches. The aperture is -^^y. If inch; the depth from the 

 entrance to the inner wall is 2^ inches ; the diameter of the 

 egg-cavity 2 inches, with a depth of something under 1 inch. 

 This nest contained three white eggs, somewhat incubated, 

 and. another, no doubt a Cuckoo's egg, which was lying 

 crosswise in front of the other eggs. Of the three original 

 eggs, one is very broad and almost purely oval, narrowing 

 much at the extremities ; the other two are ovate. They are 

 pure white, the texture being fine, and they have a decided 

 gloss. They measure 056 X 0-44, 055 x 0-45, and 0-52 X 0-45 

 inch. The Cuckoo's egg is of long and nearly oval shape, 

 the large end still more blunted than the apex, which is also 

 very much rounded. It is white, not quite so glossy as the 

 other eggs, and is sparsely marked, chiefly about the larger 

 end, with small specks of dark brown. It measures 0*85 X 

 0"55 inch. I do not know to what Cuckoo it may belong. 

 There was one strange bird, a Cuckoo probably, frequenting 

 these woods, which we were unable to secure, and which I 

 did not even see, and Cuculus intermedius was common just 

 below the high forest. I see that Mr. Davidson found eggs 

 of C. poliocephalus in nests of Acanthopneuste occipitalis 

 and Phylloscopus humii (Ibis, 1898, p. 18). There was 

 another nest, resembling the one just described, in a neigh- 

 bouring tree, but it was an old one. 



