Birds of North-ivest Fohkien. 427 



bird will sit pretty close, and is easily captured by placing 

 one's hand quietly and quickly before the entrance-hole. The 

 nest is a more or less rounded matted mass of moss and 

 very fine roots, with a small side- entrance. The outer shape 

 of the nest varies according to its surroundings, and is either 

 roundish, oblong, or quite irregular, often of greater depth 

 (from front to back) than height ; but inside it is nearly 

 always the same, the egg-cavity being deep, with a rather 

 small diameter. One nest had the upper part somewhat 

 overlapping the aperture ; but as a rule this is quite clear, 

 and the little head of the sitting bird framed in the tiny 

 window, as she looks at you with her large bright eye, is one 

 of the prettiest sights imaginable. The average measurements 

 of eight nests are, outwardly, 5'45 x 3'40 inches, with a cir- 

 cumference of 11 "80 inches. The average inner height is 

 2'8 X 1'6 inch in diameter. The aperture in three nests is 

 1 inch high by 2 broad, in one 1*25 inch high by 1'75 broad, 

 and in another 1 inch high by 2 broad. The length of this 

 entrance-hole, which is dependent on the thickness of the 

 walls, varies somewhat. In one nest it is as much as 2*25 

 inches, in another 1*75 inch. In a third nest the distance 

 from the entrance to the inner back wall is only 2*5 inches. 



The full clutch generally consists of five eggs, but some- 

 times I have taken a nest with four incubated eggs. The 

 eggs are pure white ; the texture is smooth, with a very 

 slight gloss. The shape is variable ; an exact ovate is perhaps 

 the most common, but I have a clutch in which three eggs 

 are oval ; the eggs of another are a very broad ovate, and 

 one clutch, taken by our men in 1897, consists of four 

 almost globular eggs. The eggs of a clutch are generally 

 all of the same shape. 



Four clutches, in which the eggs (one excepted) are ovate, 

 the exception being a somewhat elongated ovate, average 

 each 060 X 0-45, 0-55 X 0-45, 0-55 x 0-43, and 0-51xO-45 

 inch. A clutch of globular or round ovate eggs averages 

 0'535x0"48 inch; one of three oval and two ovate eggs 

 averages 0*53 X 0'43 inch, and one of broad ovate eggs 

 averages 053 x 045 inch. The eggs in each clutch vary but 



