48 TUBDID^. 



foiu' pale greenish-blue eggs, miinit-ely speckled with reddish 

 brown, the dots forming a very distinct zone at the larger end. 

 The nest is constructed of moss, pieces of old rag, frayed bits of 

 grass, &c., and is lined with feathers and the dried droppings of 

 the wild cat {Felis rJiaus), which, being principally composed of 

 rat's fur, are very soft ; the nest in consequence is often rather 

 odorous. An egg measured "78 inch by '6." 



The eggs are typically broad ovals, slightly pointed towards, but 

 somew hat obtuse at, the small end, and with but little gloss ; they 

 are, though closely resembling them in character, conspicuously 

 larger and slightly more elongated than those of P. caprata. The 

 doubts as to the distinctness of the two species, which must exist, 

 are a good deal weakened by the very marked difference in the 

 size of the eggs^ — a difference far more apparent to the eye than 

 might be expected from a comparison of their respective linear 

 measurements. The ground-colour is a delicate, very pale, bluish 

 green, and they are more or less thickly freckled, speckled, and 

 streaked with somewhat brownish red. The markings are most 

 dense in all cases towards the large end, where they form in most 

 an ill-defined mottled cap, and in some a broad, conspicuous, though 

 irregular zone. Their style of coloration closely resembles those 

 of the eggs of the Black, Black-eared, Russet, and Pied AVheatears, 

 as figured by Bree ; but the ground-colour is far paler and bluer 

 than in his figures, and the markings are brighter and redder. I 

 ought to notice that a faint purple mottling often underlies, or is 

 intermingled w ith, the red or brownish-red cap or zone. The eggs 

 vary in length from 0-72 to 0*82, and in breadth from 0-53 to 

 0*63 ; but the average of forty eggs measured was a trifle less than 

 0'77 by rather more than 0'6, so that, as a body, the eggs are full 

 one third larger (taking cuhic * contents) than those of P. caprata. 



610. Pratincola maura (Pall.). The Indian Bush- Chat. 



Pratincohi indica, Bhjth, Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 124. 



Pratincola rubicola (Lhin.), Hume, Botajh Draft N, Sf E. no. 483. 



The Indian Bush-Chat breeds throughout the lower ranges of 

 the Himalayas (south of the first snowy range) at almost any ele- 

 vation not exceeding 5000 feet, from Afghanistan to Assam. 

 Occasionally, too, they breed in the Salt Range, in the Suleiman 

 Hills, in the ])]iiiiis districts of the Punjab v\'hich skirt the bases of 

 these lower hills, and we have one instance on record of the nest 

 being taken at the extreme south of the Saharunpoor district. 



All about the valley of the Sutlej below Ivotegurh, and again in 



* To calculate the acli((d cubic eoiiteuts of an egg is a rather ooinplicated 

 problern ; but the cubic contents of difrprcnt sized, siniibirly shaped eggs are 

 propor/ioval to ibeir lengtlis niulti])lied by tlie squares of their diameters. So, 

 taking the eggs of ]'. caprti/)/ as averaging ()'()7 by ()•.'").^, ami those of 1'. bicolor 

 as averaging U77 by U'(), Ihcir respective volumes are as 'JO! to 277, those of/*. 

 hicohr being thus more than one tliird more massive than tiioso of P. cajjrafa. 



