THE GULAB-CHASM 87 



grass are interwoven with long strips of 

 tine fibrous bark, the inside being up- 

 holstered with extremely thin grass-stalks 

 and fine roots. When the nest is wedo-ed 

 into the fork of a tree, the two adjacent 

 twigs are enclosed as the inner walls of 

 the nest. A closely woven outer filigree 

 of cobwebs invariably forms the plaster- 

 work which makes the attachments firmer, 

 and fixes it securely to the sprigs or stems, 

 as the case may be. 



The hen comes out with a clutch of 

 three eggs usually, though as many as iiYe 

 have been found in the same nest. It is 

 rather difficult to hit off a general descrip- 

 tion of the eo^ojs, for two clutches from two 

 different nests are seldom similar. They 

 are mostly broad ovals, while some are 

 elongated. The surface has often a fine 

 gloss. The eggs keep a uniform ground- 

 colour of pinkish -white. The blotches and 

 streaks of bright deep-red brick-dust are 

 so thick in some that the ground-colour 

 itself shows like mottling. In others, the 



