Nidification of Indian Birds, 3J.9 



amount. The nests are from 3^ to 4^ inches long, and from 

 3 to 3^ inches broad, the majority measuring under 4" x 3"'2. 

 The nests I have personally taken have all been suspended 

 to small twigs of trees and bushes at from 3 to G feet from 

 the ground, and this species does not seem ever to place its 

 nest very high up in trees, as some of its nearest relations 

 often do. They are fastened to the twigs, which are some- 

 times partially or wholly surrounded with cotton, by cobwebs 

 and a few fine grasses and iibres, which also serve the 

 purpose of holding the other, non- adherent parts of the nest 

 together. 



My eggs — two is the number generally laid, rarely three — 

 average 0"-63xO"-45. In shape they are broad ovals, 

 decidedly compressed towards the smaller end, which is a 

 good deal pointed. The texture is soft and somewhat chalky, 

 the surface smooth but glossless, and the shell very fragile. 



These birds are early breeders, April being the principal 

 month, together with the first few days of May. They may 

 be found during the breeding-season at all heights above 

 2000 feet, below which they do not seem to be commonly met 

 with. 



57. DiciEUM oLiVACEUM. [Otttes, op. cit. ii. p. 380.) 

 This little bird, which is extremely common in N. Cachar, 

 breeds pretty well everywhere from over 2000 feet up to the 

 highest peaks. Its nidification difi'ers in no way from that 

 of D. concolor, the nest being a tiny purse of soft down, well 

 matted and bound together with a few fibres and many fine 

 shreds of grass. In size it measures some 3 inches long by 

 about 2 broad, and the interior is often completely filled 

 with the very finest seed-down, the ends of which often pro- 

 ject from the entrance. Of course, as the eggs are laid and 

 the bird commences to sit, this is all beaten down and fits 

 properly into the bottom of the nest. I have seen no nest at 

 all like the moss-and-grass ones found by Miss Cockburn, nor 

 have I seen any which reminded me in the least of the nests 

 of Fiprisoma (Hume, ' Nests and Eggs,' 2nd ed. ii. pp. 273, 

 274). The Plain-coloured Flower-pecker does not appear to 



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