Nidification of Indian Birds. 325 



that of a healthy brood of four or five young ones, together 

 with their mother. Generally it is in shape a small purse, 

 about 3^ inches in height by about an inch less across the 

 widest part. The entrance, very irregular in shape, is always 

 very large in proportion to the size of the nest and is very 

 roughly finished off. In general shape the nest is very much 

 like a large egg placed on its bigger end and with the smaller 

 sliced oflF in a slanting direction. It is made almost entirely of 

 the flowering ends of fine grasses, from which most of the down 

 and all the seeds have been stripped, but in addition to these 

 ends there are nearly always a few narrow strips of grass- 

 blades used also, these last sometimes being torn from dead, 

 dry grass, at other times being quite fresh and green, con- 

 trasting with the remainder of the material. The situation 

 most often chosen is in a tall tuft of grass, to two or 

 three of the stems of which it is attached, the blades also 

 being sometimes bent down and partly incorporated with 

 the sides. 



Another form of nest is just like a watch-pocket built 

 against a large leaf of some ground-plant. The materials 

 used are the same as in the purse-shaped nest, and the leaf 

 is not drawn together in any way, or, at all events, only very 

 slightly so, merely forming the back- wall of the nest. The 

 leaf is pierced here and there to admit of the cotton-down 

 being passed through, so as the more securely to attach the 

 nest to the leaf; but the punctures are very coarsely bored, 

 and the attachments look as if most roughly and carelessly 

 put together. A few cobwebs are used about the nest itself 

 and a few on the obverse side of the punctures, where they 

 are massed up into sticky little balls, which prevent the 

 materials from slipping about. 



The eggs are very lovely, and show more similarity to those 

 of Prinia inornata and the nearest allies of that bird than to 

 any others of the family Sylviidse, except, of course, C. voli- 

 tans, the Golden-hcadcd Fantail Warbler. In ground-colour 

 they are a beautiful blue, pale but very bright in tint, and 

 they are either irregularly marked with bold, well-defined 

 blotches of rather light brown or reddish brown, or else 



