82 TUEDID^. 



accidental variety, for the nests are the same as to materials and 

 situation, while the circumstance of the pinky-white eggs appears 

 to me to be the effect of some temporary derangement of the 

 system, precisely as we sometimes detect a white specimen in the 

 nest of the Hill-Mynah (Etdabes intermedia).^' 



I may add that I do not doubt that Captain Hutton was quite 

 right, and that his " carueoiis cream-coloured " eggs verily belonged 

 to this species. It is well known that eggs of Passerhie birds, 

 normally blue or bluish green, occasionally assume this pinky 

 shade. I have several such of Prinia inornata. 



Mr. Brooks tells us that the Magpie-Hobin is " common at 

 Almorah and near all villages. The nest is formed under eaves of 

 houses, or in holes in trees, but the bird gives a decided preference 

 to a dwelling-house. Like the English llobin it is a most sociable 

 bird, and appears to prefer the proximity of man. 

 " In Kumaon it lays about the middle of May." 

 He added in epist. : — " The egg is a miniature of some of those 

 of the Blackbird or Eing-Ouzel." 



From Nynee Tal Colonel G. F. L. Marshall says : — " I found a 

 nest with five eggs at Bheem Tal in a hollow tree, about 6 feet from 

 the ground, on the 9th or 10th June. The hole was lined with 

 roots and grass to form the nest." 



From Nepal Mr. Hodgson remarks : — " The female usually lays 

 five spotted eggs, bringing up from three to four young ones, and 

 but once a year, unless the first brood has failed or been rifled from 

 her. The nest is carelessly made of grass, but is ah^'ays placed in 

 a secure and sheltered position, commonly a hole in a wall, some- 

 tim.es the interior of a low thick px'icldy plant." 



Dr. Scully, also writing of Nepal, says : — " Its habits and fine 

 song in the breeding-season are well known and have often been 

 described. It breeds in May and June ; half a dozen nests, found 

 in those months, were placed in holes in walls and trees." 



From Sikhim Mr. Gammie 2iotes that he " took a nest on the 

 17th June, at an elevation of 2500 feet below Hungbee, which con- 

 tained three fresh eggs. It was in a hole of a tall tree, nearly 

 half\vay up, and was little more than a pad of rather coarse 

 roots." 



Colonel G. T. L. Marshall, writing from Saharunpoor, says : — 

 " I send the bird and a pair of its eggs. I have found only one 

 nest, and this was on the 23rd April, in a hole in the waU of a 

 building. The nest was made of fine twigs, very neatly shaped, 

 and lined \\ilh fibre ; there were five fresh eggs in it." 



Most of the nests that I have taken in Bareilly, Agra, and 

 Etawah were found in May. 



Major C. T. Bingham writes: — "Personally, bolh at Allahabad 

 and at Delhi, I have found nests of this bird in ]\lay and June in 

 holes in trees. But at Allahabad a man I had marking down nests 

 for me brought me a loosely-built shallow cup of grass-roots lined 

 with horsehair, containing live eggs of this bird. He said he had 

 found it in a thick bush, and that a female dayal had fiown off it." 



