GABBULAX. 51 



elevations not much exceeding 2500 feet. It affects the lo\v, dense 

 scrub growing in moist situations, and usually fixes its nest between 

 several upright sprays, within 5 or 6 feet of the ground. The nest 

 is cup-shaped, made of dry bamboo-leaves, intermixed with a very 

 few pieces of climber-stems, and thickly lined with old leaf-stalks 

 of some pinnate-leaved tree. Externally it measures about 5*5 

 inches in diameter by 4 in height ; internally 3'5 by 2'75. 



" The eggs are four or five in number." 



Mr. Gates writes : " On the 27th April I shot a female 

 in the Pegu Hills off her nest. This latter contained one young 

 one, and one deformed egg, which unfortunately got broken ; colour 

 a deep blue. The nest was placed in a small seedling bamboo 

 about 6 feet from the ground at a joint where a number of small 

 twigs shot out, inverted umbrella fashion. The nest in every 

 respect closely resembled that of G. pectoralis." 



He subsequently remarked : " Breeds in Lower Pegu chiefly in 

 July. Average of six eggs, 1-16 by -88 ; colour, very glossy deep 

 blue. Xest placed in forks of saplings within reach of the hand, 

 massive, cup-shaped, and made of dead leaves and small branches ; 

 lined with fine twigs. Outside diameter 7 inches and depth 4 : 

 interior 4| by 2." 



A nest found below Darjeeling in the first week of June on the 

 branch of a good-sized tree, at a height of 12 feet from the ground, 

 was similar to that described by Mr. Grammie, and contained a 

 single fresh egg. This is a moderately broad oval, somewhat pointed 

 towards the small end, and exhibits very little gloss. It is of pre- 

 cisely the same colour as those of the preceding species, but mea- 

 sures only 1-2 in length by 0'9 in breadth. 



Writing from Tenasserim, Major C. T. Bingham says : " Be- 

 tween the 25th March and 28th April I found at least twenty 

 nests of this bird. They were broad, shallow cups of roots and 

 twigs, lined with fine black grass-roots, and placed at heights varying 

 from 4 to 10 feet above the ground, invariably in the forks of low 

 bamboo. The number of eggs varied from 3 to 5 ; blue in colour, 

 and fairly glossy." 



Numerous nests from Sikhim, Pegu, and Tenasserim are all of 

 precisely the same type as described by Mr. GJ-ammie ; but some are 

 fully 7 inches in external diameter, and in several the cavity is at 

 least 4 inches in diameter. 



The eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Gammie vary very much 

 in size and shape, and somewhat in colour. Some are considerably 

 elongated ovals, with a marked pyriform tendency. Others are 

 particularly broad ovals for this class of egg. The shell is fine and 

 compact, and as a rule they seem to have a fine gloss ; but one or 

 two specimens almost want this. In colour they are a pale, clear, 

 slightly greenish blue, unspotted and unmarked. In length they 

 vary from 1-01 to 1-13, and in breadth from 0-81 to 0-9, but the 

 average of thirteen is T07 by 0*85. 



