jEGITHlNA. 341 



secondaries and primaries very narrowly edged with white; ear- 

 coverts, sides of head and whole lower plumage yellow, washed 

 with green on the flanks, vent and under tail-coverts, brightest 

 on throat and upper breast. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris yellowish white to bright pale yellow ; 

 bill slaty-blue, the culuien blackish ; legs and feet clear slaty-blue 

 to dull plumbeous. 



Measurements. Length about 140 mm.; wing 59 to 68 mm.; 

 tail about 50 mm.; tarsus about 18 to 19 mm.; culmen about 

 12 to 13 mm. 



Female. Above green or yellowish green, the tail rather 

 darker and faintly edged with yellowish white, the black of the 

 wings in the male replaced by brown ; entire under plumage 

 yellow, tinged with greyish green on flanks. 



Male in winter plumage is similar to the female but has the tail 

 black and the undersides rather brighter. 



The description of the male given above is quite exceptional, 

 more green and much less black being the rule and many breeding 

 males have practically no black on the upper parts other than 

 the wings and tail. 



Distribution. All India, except S. Travancore, East of a line, 

 roughly speaking, drawn from the head of the Gulf of Cambay 

 through Abu to (Simla and excluding that portion of South, 

 Central India occupied by JE. t. liumei. It extends through 

 Assam, Burma, certainly to the north of the Malay Peninsula, 

 east to Western Siam, Annam (Robinson & Kloss) and the 

 Kachin Hills. There is a specimen in the British Museum 

 collection received from Khorasan in Persia. 



Nidiflcation. The Common lora breeds from April to July, 

 making a very neat, cup-shaped nest of fine, soft grasses lined 

 with the same and well matted outside with cobwebs and spiders' 

 egg-bags. It measures about 2|" (62'3 mm.) in diameter by 

 about 1-" (50 mm.) deep, the \valls~being very thin, only some 3 or 

 4 mm. thick. It may be placed in either a horizontal or vertical 

 fork of any bush or small tree at any height from 2 to 30 feet 

 from the ground. The eggs number two to four, most often 

 three, and are very unusual in coloration ; they are of two types 

 one with a pale creamy or greyish-white ground-colour, with a few 

 irregular longitudinal marks of grey and underlying ones of 

 neutral tint. The second type has the ground-colour a beautiful 

 pink and the markings are reddish. Eggs from Siam are much 

 more speckly in their character. 60 eggs average 17'6 x 13*9 mm., 

 the greatest and least length and breadth being 19'0 X 14*3 ; 

 18-1 x 15-0 ; 16-2 x 14-0 and 18-2 x 13 2 mm. 



Habits. The lora is a bird of the plains and lower hills, seldom 

 being found much over 2,000 feet, though stragglers may rarely 

 wander up :is high as 8,000 feet (Simla). It is a familiar little 

 bird, haunting gardens, orchards and the outskirts of villages as 



