334 Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker on the 



one was found in a stump covered with a plant^ which looked 

 like a Virginia creeper, as well as with moss and lichen. 

 This nest was not so bulky as most, measuring only about 

 5", and about 2"-o in depth. The average nest would 

 measure about 6 inches in diameter outwardly, but, of course, 

 exact measurements can seldom be taken, the nest more or 

 less conforming in shape to the hollow in which it is placed, 

 and, when such hollow is rather large, it is often a very 

 massive, bulky structure. In such cases many leaves and 

 other scraps of rubbish are used to fill in the sides in addition 

 to the moss of which the true nest is made. The egg-cavity 

 is generally considerably over 2" across the top, and the 

 depth is often as much, seldom under 1^ inch. 



Four is the full complement of eggs laid. The ground is 

 a very pale greenish stone-colour, varying a little in intensity, 

 but never very dark, and always of a rather dull tint. As a 

 rule, the markings are of a rather pale olive-brown, and 

 consist of very minute specks and freckles, so numerous that 

 they run one into another, sometimes obliterating the whole 

 of the ground-colour and making the eggs to appear to be 

 unicoloured a pale olive ; never do the freckles leave much 

 of the ground visible. 



Two clutches — probably they are somewhat abnormal — 

 remind one very much of the eggs of Drymochares nejjalensis 

 (Oates, op. cit. i. p. 188). The ground-colour is a pale 

 greyish green, far clearer than usual, and the freckles are 

 of a dull purplish red, and are less numerous at the smaller 

 end than is generally the case, so that a fairly distinct cap 

 is formed covering the larger third of the e^^. 



Yet another clutch has a pale yellow stone ground-colour, 

 but this can only be seen when a very close examination is 

 made, for it is almost completely obliterated by comparatively 

 bright tan freckles, so that, at a short distance, the eggs 

 appear to be a pale olive or tan-brown. 



In shape they are rather long ovals, decidedly longer in 

 proportion to their size than the eggs of any other Cyornis 

 Avith which I am acquainted ; moreover, abnormal eggs tend 

 to be yet longer ovals rather than the peg-top, or extra 



