338 upupiDiK. 



in his hand. I confined the bird in a cage, hoping she would lay 

 again, but during the night she escaped. The egg is a very pale 

 skim-milk blue, nearly white, rough and chalky in texture, and 

 oval in shape." 



jNIajor Wardlaw Eamsay says, also writing of Afghanistan : — 

 " It was breeding in June." 



The eggs are similar to those of our common Indian Hoopoe, 

 but considerably larger ; they are somewhat elongated ovals, 

 devoid of gloss, varying in tint from pale bluish to pale greenish 

 grey. They exhibit no markings, but are often a good deal stained 

 in the process of incubation. 



They vary in length from 1*06 to 1'2 inch, and in breadth from 

 0*63 to 0-75 inch; but the average of numerous eggs is 1"14 by 

 0-7 iuch. 



Upupa longirostris, Jerd. The Burmese Hoopoe. 

 Upupa longii'ostris, Jerd., Hume, Cat. no. 254 bis. 



Mr. Oates writes from Pegu: — "I succeeded in finding nests 

 \\ith eggs this year. One nest, found on the 10th March, con- 

 tained two eggs, quite fresh, and another, found on the 7th April, 

 three eggs, two of which were slightly incubated and the other 

 addled. The nests in both instances were in natural liollo\^s of 

 large trees, and the eggs were placed on the bare wood. In colour 

 they are pale spotless blue, and they measure on an average 0'91 

 by 0-67 ; two are quite witliout gloss, but three others are glossy 

 to a very small extent. 



'•'•April 1-itli. — Young ones in a hole of a large forest-tree about 

 15 feet from the ground." 



Mr. J. Darling, Junr., found the nest in the Malay Peninsula. 

 He says : — " I took a nest at Salang on the 24th February out of a 

 hole of a large tree in the village. The hole was a natural one, 5 feet 

 from the ground, the entrance 3 inches in diameter, and the eggs 

 2 feet inside. There v\as no nest of any kind, the four fresh eggs 

 being on the wood. I took the bird off the nest with my hand. 

 I found two more nests in the same kind of situation, containing, 

 one four, and the other five, fully-fledged young. 



" 'IQtli February, — I took five hard-set eggs of this bird to-day, 

 which broke in blowing. The nest was of the same kind and in 

 a similar place as that of 24th. These nests are very common 

 here and in queer situations, sometimes in a large fork, sometimes 

 on a thick bough, and frequently in a clump of thick ferns or 

 orchids." 



The eggs are barely to be distinguished from those of our other 

 Hoopoes ; they are elongated ovals, often somewhat pyriform, the 

 shell very fine and compact, and \\'ith a faint gloss. In colour 

 they are a uniform very pale and very delicate slightly greenish 

 blue. 



Pive eggs from Salang measure from 0-98 to 1*0 in length by 0-7 

 in breadth. 



