Ornithologij of Northern Borneo. 437 



"17th March, 1888. 



" The great thing to-day has been the discovery of the 

 nest of my Calyptomena. Whilst resting in a dark and dense 

 part of the forest I sent on one of my natives to try for 

 some Pigeons [Carpophaya badia) which Avere booming in 

 the high trees ; in a short time a bird settled near me, 

 making a peculiar ' Kurr-r ' like note. On my moving it 

 flew away, but shortly returned to another tree, which I 

 carefully approached. I soon espied the Calyptomena holding 

 on to a large tuft of moss. The bird remained thus for some 

 seconds watching me without moving, when it dawned upon 

 me that the lump of dangling moss was a great prize — the 

 nest of my finest novelty. A shot from my small gun 

 brought down the hen bird, and when my native returned I 

 sent him up the tree ; but the nest, alas ! contained two dull 

 yellow featherless youngsters, both killed by the same shot 

 that destroyed their mother. The nest was hanging from 

 the end of a slender bough about 50 feet from the ground. 

 The outside was composed of fresh green moss bound over 

 the bough and worked into the sides, ending up with a long 

 streamer, which assists in assimilating the appearance of the 

 nest to the long dripping streamers of moss and lichens 

 which hang from every bough in these ever rainy regions. 

 The inside of the nest is very solid, lined with dry bamboo- 

 leaves above and below, forming a well-sheltered pocket. 

 Having thus obtained a clue to the nesting-habits of this 

 species, I visited all likely places for their nests, and shortly 

 after found a nest containing two eggs, 'ihis nest was 

 similar to the one first found, and was placed at the end of 

 a long slender bough over an open space. This position is 

 chosen, no doubt, so as to be well out of the reach of various 

 morrkeys.^' 



Dusan name '^ Ralo.^' 



>ggs two, glossy creamy white. Axis 1*45 inch, diam. I'O. 



A young bird just out of the nest was of a much duller 

 colour on the breast than the adult, the feathers being 

 mingled with greyish down. Tiie black patch on the throat 

 is scarcely perceptible. The back, wings, and tail arc as 

 bright as in the adult female.] 



