Nidification of Indian Birds. 333 



blotches^ wliich are confined principally to the iai-ger end. 

 The nest was not brought to me, but it was said to have 

 been of the usual pendent cup-shape, and to have been taken 

 from the outer branches of a small babool-tree, in which it 

 was placed some 5 feet or so from the ground. 



The bird is common during the cold weather in the plains, 

 where 0. indicus is extremely rare, and probably a good 

 many remain there to breed. In the hills, however, it is 

 hardly ever met witli, and the few black-naped birds which 

 do pass through are nearly all O. indicus and not 0. tenui- 

 rostris. 



47. Cyornis MAGNiRosTRis. [Otttes, op. cit. ii. p. 26.) 

 The nidification of this bird very closely resembles that of 

 C rubeculoides and C. tickelli, differing only in a few minor 

 respects, among which those most easily discerned are 

 the following : — C. magnirostris , taking into consideration 

 the average condition of all the nests which I have seen, 

 makes a rather larger and also deeper nest than does cither 

 of the Flycatchers above-mentioned, and, again, it is less 

 tidy ; secondly, the Large-billed Flycatcher almost, if not 

 quite, invariably places its nest actually on the ground, 

 whereas the other two species build their nests, more often 

 than not, in hollows in old stumps or in the tangles of 

 creepers and plants which cover them. 



C. magnirostris is not common in North Cachar, but in late 

 April or early May a few nests may generally be found in 

 the lofty valleys to the east of the district. Here the bird 

 generally selects some dark ravine, where it makes its nest 

 of moss and moss-roots, lining it with the same and placing 

 it in some natural hollow among the stems which form the 

 banks, or else it may build it in between the roots of a tree, 

 or, more rarely still, at the foot of some shrub. In whatever 

 place it may be built, it is nearly always well hidden, and it 

 would not be an easy nest to find were it not for the male 

 bird's habit of perching close to the nest and singing its 

 cheerfiil little song with great persistence and energy. Once 

 only have I taken the nest from a hollow in a tree, and this 



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