SERiLOPnus. 293 



miuute specks of this same dark colour are scattered over the rest 

 of the egg. 



The eggs vary from 0-85 to 1-0 in length, and from 0-62 to 0-69 

 in breadth; but the average of twenty eggs is 0-95 by 0-67. 



Seriloplius rubropygius (Hodgs.). IfoJr/sons BroadhW. 

 Serilophus rubropj-gia (Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Lid. i, p. 238. 



From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes : — " On the 15th May I took 

 the only nest I ever saw of this rather rare bird. It was attached 

 to a slender twig which hung from an outer branch of a solitary 

 dwarf tree growing in a moist hollow, within a few hundred yards 

 of my own house, at an elevation of about 3000 feet above the sea. 

 So close to the ground was it hanging that the small boy w^ho was 

 with me managed, after stepping gently up to the tree, to put his 

 hand across the entrance and capture the bird, which proved, on 

 dissection, to be the male, but entirely destitute of the silver- 

 coloured neck-spots with which this species is generally adorned. 

 Its stomach was well filled with the remains of grasshoppers and 

 other insects, without a trace of either seeds or fruit. 



" A quantity of towy-looking fibre was twined round the twig 

 from the top of the nest to its junction with the horizontal branch, 

 about a foot abo^■e, and a little of the same kind of fibre dangled 

 from the bottom of the nest. The t\Aig was worked in with the 

 building material to keep the nest steady. The structure was oval- 

 shaped, somewbat flattened on the entrance side ; made of dry 

 bamboo-leaves and grasses, intermixed with a considerable propor- 

 tion of fibrous material, which gave strength to the nest. The 

 cavity measured 4-25 inches in height, 3 in width, and 2 deep 

 from lower edge of entrance. It was very neatly lined with quite 

 green, small, leathery leaves. Externally the body of the nest 

 measured 9 inches long by 5 Avide, with an entrance 2 in diameter, 

 over which the building material bulged out about 2 inches, so as 

 to form a sort of portico. 



" The eggs were five in number, and as they were slightly set, 

 five is probably the full complement." 



The nest above referred to, kindly forwarded to me by Mr. 

 Gammie, is similar in general character to those of the other 

 Broadbills. It was, as usual, suspended from a leafy twig, more 

 cylindrical and less oval, about 8 inches in length and 5 to 5| 

 in diameter. The entrance near the top is circular and about 

 2j inches in diameter. The egg-cavity is about 4 inches in height 

 and 3 in diameter. Exteriorly the nest is composed of fine grass 

 and vegetable fibre, very closely matted and felted together, and 

 interiorly it is lined with, and composed of, bamboo spathes and 

 leaves. The bottom of the nest is fully 2| inches in thickness, 

 and the sides are nearly an inch in thickness, in some cases perhaps 

 even more. 



The three eggs found by Mr. Gammie are rather elongated ovals, 

 a good deal compressed towards the smaller end. The shell is very 



