ANTHIPES. 13 



times forming a zoue at the larger end, at others so completely 

 covering tlie egg as to give it tiie appearance ot" being entirely of a 

 reddish pink, the colour being always darker towards the larger 

 end. Dimensions of an egg 'So inch by '54." 



Capt. Horace Terry remarks of this bird on the Pidneys : — 

 "• Kodikaual, Pulungi, and Kiikal ; got a nest at Kodikanal in June 

 with tw o hard-set eggs."' 



The eggs, of which many have been sent me, vary a good deal 

 in size, shape, and colour, but they are almost without exception 

 lai'ger and more highly coloured than those of S. mdanops. They 

 belong of course to the same type as these and Niltava. In shape 

 they are elongated, at times excessively elongated, ovals, witli 

 7iorm((Ili/ little or no gloss. The ground-colour varies from creamy- 

 white to a pretty warm cafe aa lait colour. In some eggs there 

 are no discernible markings ; only the tint grows deeper and 

 brighter towards the large end, with pale reddish brown, brownish 

 red, or red, as the case may be. In some few eggs there is a 

 regular zone of minute red specks round the large end. In length 

 the eggs vary from 0-7(3 to 0"88 inch, and in breadth from 0-55 to 

 0*62 inch, but the average of some fifty eggs is 0-81 nearly by 

 5y inch nearlv. 



583. Anthipes moniliger (Hodgs.). The Himalayan 

 Wliite-gonjeted Fhjcatclier. 



Anthipes moniliger {Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind. \, p. 477 ; Hume, Cat. 

 uo. 317. 



Mr. Mandelli has sent me two nests said to belong to this 

 species. One was found at Lebong at an elevation of about 5800 

 feet on the 13th May, w hen it contained four fresh eggs. The 

 nest was placed in a depression of the ground in the midst of grass 

 and low jungle. The other was found iu June near the same place, 

 ou the ground also amongst the grass on a bank. The one nest is a 

 shallow saucer composed of very fine moss closely felted together, 

 and with a few dry grass and dead leaves incorporated at the 

 base, also one or two feathers. It is about 3-5 inches in diameter, 

 with a small central depression, and a little excessively fine grass 

 is intermingled with the moss on the whole upper surface. The 

 other is very similar but slightly larger, and has the whole base 

 and sides completely coated externally with dead semi-skeleton 

 leaves. 



Mr. Mandelli has also sent me eggs said to belong to this species, 

 obtained near Darjeeling on the 3rd of April. I am scarcely in- 

 clined to believe in the authenticity of these eggs. 



They are moderately broad ovals, somewhat pointed towards the 

 small end, with a very fine compact and glossy shell. The ground- 

 colour is nearly pure white, there is a conspicuous freckled streaky 

 brownish-red zone about the large end, aud spots, specks, and tiny 

 streaks of the same colour sparsely scattered about the rest of the 



