BEACH YPTERYX. DETilOCHAEES. 129 



fine fern -roots. Inside 1*75 inch deep and 2'5 inches across ; 

 outside a shapeless mass of moss filling up the hole it was built in. 

 The nest was very conspicuous to any one passing by." 



194. Brachypteryx rnfiventris (Blyth). The Rufous-bellied 

 Short-iving. 



Callene rufiventris, Blyth, Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 496; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 339. 



I have been favoured with nests of the Rufous-bellied Short- 

 wing by Mr. Carter, who took them from holes or depressions of 

 banks in the Xilghiris in April and May. They closely resemble 

 nests of Niltava macgrigorice from Darjeeling. They are soft 

 masses of green moss, some 4 or 5 inches in diameter externally, 

 with more or less of a depression towards one side, lined with very 

 fine dark moss-roots. This depression may average about 2 

 inches across and f inch in depth ; but they vary a good deal. 

 Mr. Carter says : " I have found the nests of this species about 

 Conoor in May, in holes of banks, on roads running through thick 

 sholas (i. e. jungles not amounting to forests). The nests are of 

 moss, shallow, lined with fine root-fibres, the cavity about 3'5 

 inches in diameter. They lay two eggs, pale olive, shading into a 

 decided brownish red at the larger end. The old birds are very 

 shy in returning to the nest when watched ; indeed, they are 

 always shy, hiding in the brushwood of jungles or amongst fallen 

 timber, along which they almost creep." 



Mr. Davison informs me that " this species breeds on the ]Xil- 

 ghiris from about 5500 feet to about 7000 during April and May, 

 building in holes of trees, crevices of rocks, &c., seldom at any 

 great elevation above the ground. The nest is composed of moss, 

 lined with moss and fern-roots. T\\o or three eggs are laid." 



The few eggs I possess, which I owe to Messrs. Carter and 

 Davison, and which were taken by them in the Nilghiris, have a 

 pale olive-brown ground with, at the large end, an ill-defined 

 mottled reddish-brown cap. In some specimens the mottling 

 extends more or less over the whole egg, though always most dense 

 about the larger end. Though much larger and of a more elongated 

 shape, they not a little resemble some specimens of the eggs of 

 Pratincola indica that I possess. In shape they are long ovals, 

 recalling in that respect those of Myiophoneus temmincki ; they 

 have less gloss than the eggs of most of the Thrushes. 



In length they vary from 0-97 to 1-02 inch, and in breadth frDm 

 0-65 to 0-69 inch. 



197. Drymochares cruralis (Blyth). The White-browed 

 Short-wing. 



Brachypteryx cruralis (SI.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 495 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft JV." # E. no. 338. 



According to Mr. Hodgson's notes and drawings, the White- 

 VOL. i. 9 



