CIIALCOl'AllIA. -09 



email end, have a tine compact shell, and a very tair amount ot 

 gloss Tlie ground is a drab or sepia-brown, witii, ni one a decided 

 purplish tinge, and they are minutely striped and speckled some- 

 times ail over, but even then most densely about the large end, 

 and sometimes there only, with a deep dingy purple m Inch is almost 



In'len'Hh they vary from 0-85 to 1-05, and in breadth from OOl 

 to U-75. "As will be seen from these dimensions, the eggs vary 

 iunnensely in size. 



Chalcoparia phcenicotis * (Temm.). The Ruhij-Chcelc. 

 Cbalcopana singalensis {Gm.), Hume, Cat. no. 233 sex. 

 Mr. Gates records the following note on tlie nidification of this 



^^"This^bil-d appears to nidificate from the middle of May to 

 about the end of July. On the 3rd June I found a nest with 

 Uxo ecrgs nearly hatched. It was suspended from a branch ot a 

 mango tree about 20 feet from the ground, and well surrounded 

 by leaves On the 25th June another nest was found from wliicJi 

 the young had apparently just flown. It was about 8 feet from 

 the ground. On July 6th a nest with two nearly fresh eggs was 

 discovered hanging on a shrub about 4 feet high, and on the bth 

 of the same month another quite completed, but with no eggs. 

 It was attached to the extreme tip of a bamboo about 25 feet from 



the ground. . , 



"Theeo-gs appear to be always two m number. Ihree eggs 

 measure -66, -64, aud -03 in length, by -46, -43, and -44 in bmidth, 

 respectively. They have little or no gloss. The ground-colour is 

 pinkish white, and'the whole shell is thickly streaked and other- 

 wise marked with brown, in which a purplish tinge is distinctly 

 yisible. The marks are very evenly distributed, but round tlie 

 thicker end they tend to coalesce aud form a more or less distinct 

 ring. Very little of the ground-colour is visible. 



''The nest is a very lovely structure, closely resembling that ot 

 Plocem haya in shape, with the tube cut off at the level of the 

 bottom of the nest. At a short distance off, it looks like a mass 

 of hair-combings. Three nests are composed throughout ot black 



* I have shown in my work on the Birds of India that f^-}^;^'^^^^^^^^^ 

 lon^ to the i;cctariimd<B. Its proper position is probably among the UoU i- 



helong to the IS'cctariinida 

 chines. — Ed. 



