Nidification of Indian Birds. 323 



of them are placed at a height of from 4 to 6 feet from the 

 ground, while I liave taken others at heights of from 10 to 

 12 feet from it, and one fully 20 feet from the ground. 



The other type of nest is that which I found first, and the 

 following description will show how different it is from that 

 already described. It is not quite so commonly found as 

 the last, and I should think that the first type of nest 

 numbers about three in five of all those I have either found 

 myself, been shown in situ, or had brought to me. The nest 

 I am about to describe was found in the same evergreen 

 forest as the other, but whereas that was taken high up on a 

 lofty peak over 4300 feet high, this was found in a valley at 

 the foot of the peak and fully 1000 feet lower. 



In this valley, in a rank tangle of grass and bushes, lay 

 the remains of a once mighty tree, its rapidly decaying trunk 

 obliterated with dense masses of ferns, mosses, and orchids 

 of all kinds, among them the most prominent being the 

 sweet-scented Celogyne oceUata and Dendrobium densiflorum. 

 Stepping on this trunk, and clutching for assistance as I 

 climbed at the plants, I disturbed a pair of Brown Wrens, 

 so at once slipped quietly down again and, leaning against a 

 tree close by, waited until they should return. In a very 

 few minutes back they both came, and after bustling about 

 for a short time in a very consequential manner, disap[:eared 

 into what looked like a ball of live moss tucked away among 

 a mass of yellow-flowering orchid. On approaching nearer, 

 however, I found that the seeming lump of moss was in 

 reality a most beautiful little globular nest, made of the 

 brightest and freshest moss and lined with the finest roots 

 of the same. It was wedged in well under the orchid and 

 rested on the remains of a small branch which still jutted 

 out from the trunk. The leaves and flowers of the orchid 

 hanging over the entrance concealed it from any but the 

 most careful search, while the brilliantly green moss which 

 the bird had selected was just like that growing in luxuriant 

 clumps all around it. Altogether it was, both in itself and 

 its surroundings, one of the most beautiful little bird- 

 residences which I have ever seen. Horizontally it was 



