110 CEATEEOPODID^!. 



167. Rhopocichla nigrifrons (Bl.). The Black-fronted Babbler. 

 Alcippe nigvifrons, JBL, Hume, Cat. no. 390 ter. 



Colonel Legge writes regarding the nidification of the Black- 

 fronted Babbler in Ceylon : " After finding hundreds of the curious 

 dry-leaf structures, mentioned in ' The Ibis,' 1874, p. 19, entirely 

 void of contents, and having come almost to the conclusion that 

 they were built as roosting-places, I at last came on a newly-con- 

 structed one containing two eggs, on the 5th of January last ; the 

 bird was in the nest at the time, so that my identification of the 

 eggs was certain. The nest of this Babbler is generally placed in 

 a bramble or straggling piece of undergrowth near a path in the 

 jungle or other open spot ; it is about 3 or 4 feet from the ground, 

 and is entirely made of dead leaves and a few twigs ; the leaves are 

 laid one over another horizontally, forming a smooth bottom or 

 interior. In external form it is a shapeless ball about 8 or 10 

 inches in diameter, and has an unfinished opening at the side. 

 The birds build with astonishing quickness, picking up the leaves 

 one after another from the ground just beneath the nest. When 

 fresh the eggs are fleshy white, becoming pure white when emptied ; 

 they are large for the size of the bird, rather stumpy ovals, of a 

 smooth texture, and spotted openly and sparingly with brownish 

 red, over bluish-grey specks ; in one specimen the darker markings 

 are redder than in the other, and run mostly in the direction of 

 the axis. Dimensions : 074 by 0-56 and 0-74 by 0-55." 



169. Stackyrhis nigriceps, Hodgs. The Black-throated Babbler. 



Stachvris nigriceps, Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 21 ; Hume. Rouyh 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 391. 



I have never taken a nest of this species, the Black-throated 

 Babbler, but Mr. Gammie, a careful observer, in whose neighbour- 

 hood (Rungbee, near Darjeeling) this bird is very abundant, has 

 taken many nests, two of which he has sent me, with many eggs. 



One nest, found at Eishap, on the 14th May, at an elevation of 

 about 4000 feet, contained four nearly fresh eggs. It was a very 

 loose structure, a shallow cup of about 3| inches in diameter, com- 

 posed of fine grass-stems without any lining, and coated externally 

 with broad coarse grass blades. 



Another nest taken low down in the valley, at about an elevation 

 of 2000 feet, on the 17th June, contained three fresh eggs. It was 

 placed in a bank at the foot of a shrub. Like the previous one, 

 it was a loose but rather deeper cup, interiorly composed of mode- 

 rately fine grass, exteriorly of dead leaves. The egg-cavity mea- 

 sured about 2 inches in diameter, and 1| inch in depth. In situ, 

 both probably were more or less domed, the cups more or less over- 

 hung by a hood or canopy. 



Mr. Grammie remarks : " I have seen numerous nests of this 



