POMATOEHINUS. 83 



" The measurements of two were Tl and 1-09 in length by O75 

 in breadth." 



Major C. T. Bingham says : " This is the Pomatorhinus of 

 the Thouugyeen valley, being found from the sources to the mouth 

 of that river. A note recorded two years ago of a nest that I 

 found is given below : tli March. Having to go over the ground 

 along the southern boundary of the proposed Meplay reserve I had 

 to cut my way through dense bamboo, to go through a long belt of 

 which is hard work. To make it worse in this case several clumps 

 had been burnt by fire and blown down. As I was slowly pro- 

 gressing along, bent almost double, out of a little hollow at my 

 feet a bird flew with a suddenness that nearly knocked me 

 down. I looked into the hollow, and there under the ledge of the 

 sheltering bank was a nest of dry bamboo-leaves lined with strips 

 of the same, shredded fine. It was cup-shaped, loosely made, 

 about H inches in diameter, and the same in depth, containing 

 three pure white eggs, perfectly fresh (measured afterwards two 

 proved respectively, 0-98 x 0-71, 0'99 x 0-73 inch) ; and gun in hand 

 I watched, hiding myself behind a clump of bamboos about thirty 

 yards off. For an hour I watched, but the bird did not return, so 

 I marked the spot and went on. Returning back the same way 

 just before dusk, I managed to start her again, and to get a hurried 

 shot ; she fell and I secured and recognized her as P. olivaceus." 



The eggs, which seem small for the size of the bird, are rather 

 broad ovals, some fairly regular, some a good deal compressed just 

 towards the small end, which is, however, always obtuse, never 

 pointed ; the shell is fine, compact, and thin, smooth and satiny to 

 the touch, but with scarcely any perceptible gloss. The colour is 

 pure spotless white. 



119. Pomatorhinus melamirus, Blyth. The Ceylonese Scimitar 



Babbler. 

 Pomatorhinus melanurus, Blyth) Hume, Cat. no. 404 his. 



Colonel Legge writes of the nidification of this bird in Ceylon : 

 " This Babbler breeds from December until February. I have 

 observed one collecting materials for a nest in the former month, 

 and at the same period Mr. MacVicar had the eggs brought to 

 him ; they were taken from a nest made of leaves and grass, and 

 placed on a bank in jungle. Mr. Bligh has found the nest in 

 crevices in trees, between a projecting piece of bark and the trunk, 

 also in a jungle-path cutting and on a ledge of rock \ it is usually 

 composed of moss, grass-roots, fibre, and a few dead leaves, and the 

 structure is rather a slovenly one. The eggs vary from three to 

 five, and are pure white, the shell thin and transparent, and they 

 measure O96 to 0-98 in length, by 0-7 in breadth." 



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