56 TURDID.E. 



" To show how fearless this little bird is, I may mention that in 

 April last one of them built in a hole in a batli-room wall, and did 

 not appear to be frightened by the people going out and in. 

 About three weeks after, when the young had left the nest, the 

 birds laid three eggs in the same nest, and these I took on 10th 

 April, 1873. Later these birds laid a third batch of eggs in the 

 same nest, and these they were allowed to hatch." 



A\^riting from Mount Aboo Colonel E. Butler inquires : — 

 " Have you any instances recorded of Cercomela fusca depositing 

 its eggs in the disused nests of other species ? I found this bird 

 last month (?. e. in June) sitting upon three eggs in a nest (in a 

 cave) which appeared to me to have belonged to Coti/h concolor. 

 It was unmistakably a nest belonging to one of the Swallows — a 

 broad inverted cone built of mud to the side of the cave and lined 

 with dry grass. 1 have seen many nests of this species this year, 

 but in no other instance have I found the eggs laid in another 

 bird's nest. 



" The Brown TJock-Chat breeds at Mount Aboo in February, 

 March, and April. The nest is usually built in holes of rocks, 

 buildings, or stone walls, and when in the former is often supported 

 by a heap of small stones and pellets of dry earth, forming an 

 embankment that extends from 6 to 10 inches beyond the side of 

 the nest, which is evidently intended to make the nest rest hori- 

 zontally. I have noticed it in so many cases that I look upon it 

 now rather as a rule than as an exception. During the period of 

 incubation both birds are extremely pugnacious, and vigorously 

 attack any small birds, squirrels, rats, lizards, &c. that venture to 

 approach the nest. The eggs, varying in number from three to 

 four, are pale blue, with small dark reddish-brown spots thinly 

 scattered over the whole shell and formed into a narrow circle 

 round the large end.*' 



Lieut, H. E. Barnes informs us that in Eajputana the Brown 

 Eock-Chat breeds from March to the end of July, rearing, he 

 believes, two or three broods in the season. 



The eggs are truly I'Sa.vicoUne. In shape moderately broad 

 ovals, generally somewhat pointed towards the small end, and 

 usually with a good deal of gloss. The ground-colour is a most 

 delicate pale pure blue. The markings consist of tiny specks 

 and spots of different shades of red and brownish-red ; often very 

 faint, commonly almost exclusively confined to the larger end, but 

 sometimes thinly speckled over the whole surface, and in one egg 

 that I possess forming a broad, irregular, dotted zone round 

 the small end, while the large end is almost entirely free from 

 spols. This latter, however, is quite an abnormal variety. Occa- 

 sionally the markings are entirely wanting. C'onsideralily elongated 

 examples occur, but as a rule the shape is Aery uniform. 



In length the eggs vary from 0-75 to 0-88 in length, and from 

 0*58 to 0'05 in breadl li ; but the average of twenty-four eggs 

 measured is 0-82 by 0-62. 



