PELLOENETJM. 99 



made compact cup, well finished off about the top aud exterior, 

 and constructed of dry grass, adorned with cobwebs or lichens, 

 and lined with fine grass or roots. The exterior is about 2 J inches 

 in diameter by about 2 in depth. The eggs are usually three in 

 number, fleshy white, boldly spotted, chiefly about the larger end, 

 with brownish sienna ; in some these markings are inclined to be- 

 come confluent, and are at times overlaid with dark spots of brick- 

 red. They are rather broad ovals, measuring, on the average, 

 from 0-76 to 079 inch in length, by 0-56 to 0-59 in breadth." 



142. Pellorneum mandellii, Blanf . Mandetti's Spotted Babbler. 



Pellorneain nipalensis (Hodgs.^ Hume, Hough Draft N. Sf E. 

 no. 399 bis. 



This species, originally described by Hodgson as Hemipteron 

 nipalensis, was confounded by Gray and others with P. ruficeps, 

 Swainson, and subsequently rediscriminated and described by 

 Blanford as P. mandellii. 



Mandelli's Spotted Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes, 

 begins to lay in April, the young being ready to fly in July. 

 They build a large, more or less oval, globular nest, laid lengthwise 

 on the ground in some bush or clump of rush or reed, composed of 

 moss, dry leaves, and vegetable fibres, and lined with moss-roots. 

 The entrance, which is circular, is at one end. A nest measured 

 by Mr. Hodgson was 675 inches in length and 5 in height. The 

 aperture, at one end of the egg-shaped nest, was about 2 inches in 

 diameter, and the cavity was about 2-5 in diameter and nearly 4 

 inches deep. The eggs are three or four in number, and are figured 

 as broad ovals pointed towards the small end, measuring about 0*86 

 by O65, and having a greyish-white ground, thickly speckled and 

 spotted with more or less bright red or brownish red, and most 

 thickly so at the large end, where the markings are nearly con- 

 fluent. 



A nest said to belong to this species, and found near Darjeeling 

 in July, at an elevation of about 4000 feet, was placed on the 

 ground on the side of a bank a very dirty untidy nest, more or 

 less cylindrical in shape, composed of dead leaves, including a good 

 many* of those of the bamboo, dead twigs, and old roots, and very 

 sparsely lined with black moss-roots. The nest is about 4 inches 

 in diameter externally, and the cavity about 25 in diameter. 



It contained three fresh eggs, very regular, moderately broad, 

 ovals ; the shell fine and compact, with a slight gloss. The ground- 

 colour is white, and the egg everywhere very finely speckled with 

 chocolate- or purplish brown, the markings being by far most dense 

 at the large end, where they form a more or less irregular, and 

 more or less conspicuous, speckly cap. 



Two eggs measure 0-86 and 0-9 in length, and 0-65 and 0-66 in 

 breadth. 



Another nest, found on the 5th June in Native Sikhim, con- 



7* 



