86 CEATEROPODIDJE. 



times moderately broad, and very slightly compressed towards one 

 end. They are very fragile, and perfectly pure spotless white in 

 colour. Typically, although smooth and satiny in texture, they 

 have but little gloss, but occasionally a fairly glossy egg is to be 

 met with. 



In length they vary from 0*98 to 1*12, and in breadth from 0*75 

 to 0*79 ; but the average seems to be about 1*08 by 0*77. 



122. Pomatorhinus fermginosus, Blyth. The Coral-billed 

 Scimitar Babbler. 



Pomatorhinus ferruginosus, Blyth, Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 29 ; Hume, 

 Rough Draft N. # E. no. 401. 



The Coral-billed Scimitar Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson's 

 notes, breeds in Sikhim, at an elevation of 5000 or 6000 feet. Its 

 nest is placed about a foot or 2 feet above the ground, in a bamboo- 

 clump or some thick bush, and is firmly wedged in between the 

 twigs and shoots. It is composed internally of dried bamboo- 

 leaves, grass, and vegetable fibres, outside which bamboo-sheaths 

 are bound on with creepers and fibres of different kinds. The 

 nest is more or less egg-shaped, with the longer diameter hori- 

 zontal, some 7 inches or so in length and 5 inches in height, and 

 with the entrance at one end, measuring some 3 inches in diameter. 

 Four or five eggs are laid, elongated ovals, somewhat pointed 

 towards the small end, pure white, and measuring about 1-08 by 0'7. 



Erom Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes : " I took a nest of this bird 

 on the 19th May, at an elevation of about 5000 feet. It was 

 placed on the ground, among low scrub, near the outskirts of a 

 large forest, and was neatly made, for a Pomatorhinus, of bamboo- 

 leaves and long grass, with a thin lining of fibry strips torn from 

 old bamboo-stems. In shape it was a cone laid on its side. Ex- 

 ternally it measured 9 inches in length by the same in height at 

 front, while the egg-cavity measured 3'5 inches across, and 1-75 

 in depth. The entrance, which was at the end, measured 3 inches 

 in diameter. 



" Next to the lining was a layer of broadish grass-blades, placed 

 lengthways, i. e. from base to apex of the cone, then came a cross 

 layer of broad bamboo-leaves succeeded by a second layer of bamboo- 

 leaves placed lengthways. By this arrangement the nest was kept 

 perfectly water-tight. So nicely were these simple materials put 

 together that they held each other in their places without the assis- 

 tance of a single fibre. 



" The nest contained four partially incubated eggs : three of them 

 pointed and exactly alike, but the fourth rounded, and apparently 

 of a different texture, so that it may have been introduced by a 

 Cuckoo." 



Two eggs sent by Mr. G-ammie are moderately elongated ovals, 

 somewhat obtuse even at the smaller end. The shell is very 

 fine, pure white, and has a fine gloss. They measure 1*1 by 0-83, 

 and 1-06 by 0-78. 



