126 CEATEEOPODID^E. 



the nests were in every case near to running water. The bird 

 stays with us all the year, and is one of our commonest species. 

 Its clear whistle is always to be heard the first thing in the morn- 

 ing before the other birds get up, and during the violent rains of 

 the IS.W. monsoon it seems almost the only bird which does not 

 lose heart at the incessant downpour. April and May appear to 

 be the breeding months." 



Messrs. Davidson and Wenden remark : " Scattered all over 

 the Dec-can in suitable localities. W. got two nests, one on the 

 Bhore Ghat on 5th August, and one on the Thull Ghat on 17th of 

 same month. That on the Bhore Ghat was built on a ledge of 

 rock some 15 feet in from the face of a railway tunnel where 30 or 

 40 trains daily passed within a few feet of it. That on the Thull 

 Ghat was in a cutting at the entrance of a tunnel, and about the 

 same height above and from the rails as the one on the Bhore Ghat. 

 In both cases the eggs were much discoloured by the smoke from 

 engines, but on being washed, W. observed that one of the three eggs 

 in each nest was of a decidedly greenish blue, finely speckled and 

 splashed with pinky brown, while the others were of the pale 

 salmon-pink, as described in Mr. Hume's Rough Draft of ' JNests 

 and Eggs.' The male bird was sitting on one of the nests and 

 was shot. W. saw numerous other nests, some high up on cliffs, 

 beyond the reach of a 15-foot ladder. Two nests in holes in trees 

 were reported to him, but he could not go to examine them. The 

 nests were about 4 inches diameter by 2| inches deep inside and 

 8 to 10 inches broad outside, and not more than 10 inches high. 

 The foundation portion contained a great deal of clay and earth, 

 which seemed to be necessary to secure the nests in positions so 

 exposed to the heavy gusts of wind which prevail on these 

 ghats during the monsoon." 



Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, says : " I 

 found the nest of this Thrush on the Seeghoor Ghaut of the Neil- 

 gherries. Mr. Davison was with me at the time ; and the nest 

 being built on an open ledge of rock, we both sighted it at the 

 same moment ; and I having managed to make better use of my 

 legs than my friend, was fortunate enough to secure it, and one 

 egg, which was of a pale flesh-colour, with a few faint spots and 

 blotches of claret towards the larger end. The nest was made of 

 leaves and moss mixed with clay, and lined with fine roots. The 

 dimensions of the egg are 1'3 inch in length by '85 in breadth. It 

 was in May that I found this egg ; but the nest had evidently 

 been deserted for some time ; for the egg has a hole in its side, 

 through which the contents had escaped or been sucked by a snake 

 or some animal." 



Dr. Jerdon says : " I once procured its nest, placed under a 

 shelf of a rock on the Burliar stream, on the slope of the Nilghiris. 

 It was a large structure of roots, mixed with earth, moss, &c., and 

 contained three eggs of a pale salmon or reddish-fawn colour, with 

 many smallish brown spots;" and such is unquestionably the usual 

 situation of the nest. 



