CYMBORHYNCHUS. 



295 



He subsequently found the eggs at Kussoom, and he furnished 

 me with the following interesting note : — 



" At Kussoom, in the northern part of the Malay peninsula, I, 

 in company with Mr. Darling, took two nests of Ci/mhorhynchus 

 macrorhynchus. 



" The first nest ^^■as from a bush growing by itself in an open 

 bit of uncultivated paddy-land. The nest was of the ordinary 

 type, a huge globular mass composed of grasses, roots, t\yigs, and 

 fibres, very coarse and loosely put together on the outside, finer 

 and more 'compact in the interior. This nest was placed lower 

 than any I have ever seen, the bottom of the nest being only some 

 3A feet from the gi-ouud. It was suspended to the extreme point 

 of one of the outermost branches of the bush. This nest was 

 evidently an old one that the birds had taken into use again, for 

 many weeks before it ^-as reoccupied it was discovered by Mr. 

 Darling, who occasionally, whenever he passed that \A'ay, looked 

 into it, but always found it empty ; but soon after my arrival at 

 Kussoom, happening to pass that way, the nest was pointed out 

 to me. 1 walked up to the bush to examine it, and to see if it 

 really was a Broadbill's nest, for the situation struck me as being 

 odd, "my experience of both E.javanicus and C. macrorhynchus (for 

 though" 1 have not been fortunate in securing eggs, I have found 

 very many nests with young, and many more old ones) being 

 that the nest is usually built at the extreme end of some branch 

 or bamboo, a good height above ground, and generally overhanging 

 some stream or pool of water, so as to be well out of the reach of 

 monkevs, wild cats, &c. On reaching the nest and looking in I 

 found "it contained one egg, the bottom of the nest having been 

 lined with fresh green leaves. The next day I again visited the 

 nest and found a second egg laid, on the next a third, and on the 

 next a fourth. I did not take the eggs then, but waited several 

 days, visiting the nest once, and sometimes twice, each day. I 

 continually saw the bird, and as it had to fly for nearly a hundred 

 yards, after lea^-ing the nest, over the bare paddy-land before 

 "reaching cover, I had a good look at it each time. The eggs in 

 this nest were white, rather thickly covered with black spots. 

 The green leaves in the nest were renewed every second or third day. 

 " The second nest was suspended to the extreme tip of a huge 

 bamboo overhanging some excessively boggy ground, and was, I 

 should say, about thirty feet from the ground. When the nest 

 was first "discovered there was no way of ascertaining whether it 

 contained eggs or not, but by cutting down the bamboo. This 

 Mr. Darhng carefully did, cutting partially through the inner side 

 of the bamboo, and then gradually bending it down till I could 

 reach it. On putting my fingers into the nest T found it contanied 

 one egg only, which I removed, but was much astonished to see 

 that it was of a totally different type from those in the other nest, 

 of whose identity I \vas positive." I thought I had made some 

 mistake (and yet I saw a Cymborhynclms leave the nest), so I re- 

 placed the egg in the nest, and with the aid of a prop and a few 

 strong creepers managed to raise the nest some seven feet off the 



