418 Mr. J. D. D. La Touclio on the 



the next notes. The song gives one the idea of some one 

 practising a scale on some musical instrument. The last 

 note has a deep sound like that of the bass string o£ a violon- 

 cello. The nest, like that of Yuhina nigrimentwn described 

 by Mr. Stuart Baker in 'The Ibis' for 1895 (p. 221), is a 

 cradle suspended generally under the moss-grown branch of 

 a tree, sometimes on a palm-tree : I saw one slung under 

 and attached to the bamboo-thatch under the eaves of a 

 shed for storing bamboo-fibre or -skin. The day before we 

 left some tea-pickers brought us two nests with young, which 

 they said they had found suspended from twigs of tea-plants. 

 The bird is so shy and wary at the nest that to obtain the parent 

 birds with the eggs is a matter of great difficulty. If the 

 nest be only touched the bird will forsake it. Thus the nests 

 found by the native hunters proved on subsequent visits to 

 have been deserted. The first shown to me was slung under 

 the moss-covered branch of a small tree that grew out of the 

 perpendicvilar face of a rock, just over a pool in the torrent 

 below Kuatun. This nest contained four eggs — the full 

 clutch, no doubt. When we took it, on the 2nd May, it had 

 been deserted for some days. Another nest that I saw was 

 slung under the lowest branch of a tree, towards the ex- 

 tremity of the branch, and was about 15 feet from the 

 ground. This tree stood on a hill-slope, in the midst of a 

 lightly-planted bamboo-grove. An old nest was also shown 

 to me on a palm-tree [Chamcerops excelsa), among the coir- 

 fibre at the base of the leaf-stems. These nests, together 

 with that above mentioned, found under the eaves of a 

 shed, are the only nests I saw in situ. Only the first- 

 mentioned nest contained eggs. The remains of a nest, with 

 the parent bird and fragments of the eggs, were brought to 

 me on the 2nd May by Chunkai. This nest was placed in a 

 very difficult position, and while taking it the branch broke 

 and all the eggs were smashed. 



Our collectors were more lucky on their previous expe- 

 ditions. In 1896 they brought one nest with four eggs and 

 the parent bird, and in 1897 two nests Avith one and three 

 eggs. 



