Nidification of hidian Birds. 343 



and 0"-54x0"-41. The texture is fine and close^ but quite 

 glossless, and the shell is extremely fragile. 



53. tEthopyga gouldi^. {Oates, op. cit. ii. p. 352.) 

 In shape the nests of this species are like those of yE. iyni- 

 cauda just described, but differ in being rather larger, more 

 bulky, and somewhat less tidily put together. In the half- 

 dozen nests or so that I have seen, the principal material used 

 has been simul cotton-seed or some other vegetable down, a 

 few grasses, scraps of raoss, and cobwebs being used only in 

 sufficient quantities to hold the nest together. In one nest I 

 found that the delicate tendrils of a small yellow ground con- 

 volvulus had been used. In all nests the grasses, moss, &c. 

 preponderate over the cotton-down at and about where the 

 nest is attached to the supporting frond or twig, and thence 

 they are brought round and about the nest and underneath 

 the bottom. The biggest nest I have taken was over 7" in 

 length by about 2"-65 in breadth, whereas the smallest is a 

 little over 4"-5 by 2"-2 only in breadth. The interiors of the 

 two nests measure respectively 2"-6xl"'5 and 2"'8xl"*4. 

 In all nests the entrance is so placed that about two-thirds 

 of the egg-chamber is below it, and it measures from 0"-8 to 

 about 1"'2 in diameter. 



All the nests I have seen were, with one exception, fastened 

 to fronds of the common bracken, about 6 to 8 inches from 

 their summits. The one exception was attached to the 

 pendent twig of a small bush growing in among a quantity 

 of bracken. All my nests were taken at or near Hungrum 

 at an elevation of over 5000 feet, and all were found in the 

 same evergreen-forest as that in which the nest oi jE. igni- 

 cavda was taken. The bird seems to take infinite pains to 

 conceal its nest, and there are few which are harder to find ; 

 indeed, on some occasions, I spent a considerable time 

 watching birds which I feel sure had their nests somewhere 

 close by, yet totally failed in finding them. 



The following are the dates on whicli I have taken nests 

 in different years : — 



