356 On the Nidification of Indian Birds. 



66. Sphenocercus apicaudus. 



This fine Green Pigeou breeds in great numbers in suitable 

 places all over Cacharj and ia some places, notably Guilang, 

 at about 3000 feet, I have taken three and four nests in a day. 

 The nest is the usual platform of sticks, some 6 inches in 

 diameter, and is usually placed near the top of small sap- 

 lings, such as have the most numerous boughs and twigs 

 being most often resorted to. I have also taken their nests 

 from very large briar bushes, only 10 or 12 feet from the 

 ground. Two eggs are nearly always laid, but occasionally 

 one may be found hard-set. They are just the same in 

 shape as most Green Pigeon's eggs are, and the same in 

 texture, perhaps even more regular ellipses than some, and 

 also somewhat more coarsely grained, as, though beautifully 

 pure white naturally, they stain rather easily. Fifty eggs 

 average l"-30 X 0"-96, in length ranging between l"-09 X l"-37, 

 and in breadth between 0"'87 x 1"'03 ; very few eggs, how- 

 ever, will be found under l"-20 x 0"-92. 



These birds breed throughout April, May, and June, a few 

 even as late as the earlier half of August. 



67. Alcedo grandis. {Blanford, op. cit. iii. p. 125.) 

 The only notes on the Great Indian Kingfisher in Hume's 



* Nests and Eggs ' are some that T wrote a great many years 

 ago in the ' Asian,' and in these notes I gave no dimensions. 

 Three eggs of one clutch measure 1"-10 X 0"-88, l"-06 x 0"-87, 

 and l"*02x0"'86. A single egg, not noticed in the above- 

 mentioned book, measures 0"-97x0"'88. 



68. CypsELUs suBFURCATUs. {Blanford, op. cit. iii. p. 169.) 

 My notes on the nidification of this bird were given by 



Mr. Hartert in Nov. Zool. i. p. 674 (see Ibis, 1895, p. 152). 



69. PtiloljEmus anteni. {Blanford, op. cit. iii. p. 153.) 

 On the 19th of May, 1893, I took a nest of this rare 



Hornbill. It was in a dead stump of a tree, some 20 feet 

 from the ground, standing on a grass-covered hill just out- 

 side some jungle. The hollow was a large one, some 2 feet 

 deep by about as much in diameter, and the entrance was 



