146 CEATEEOPODIDJE. 



I have never taken a nest of the Yellow- naped Ixulus. 



Mr. G-ammie says : " I have only as yet found a single nest of 

 this species, and this was one of the most artfully concealed that 

 I have ever seen. I found it in forest in the Chinchona reserves, 

 at an elevation of about 5000 feet, on the 14th May. It was a 

 rather deep cup, composed of moss and fine root-fibres and thickly 

 lined with the latter, and was suspended at a height of about six 

 feet amongst the natural moss, hanging from a horizontal branch 

 of a small tree, in which it was entirely enveloped. A more 

 beautiful or more completely invisible nest it is impossible to 

 conceive. It contained three fresh eggs. The cup itself was 

 exteriorly 3*7 inches in diameter and 1*9 in depth, while the cavity 

 was 2-5 in diameter and 1'5 in depth." 



The Yellow-naped Ixulus breeds, according to Mr. Hodgson's 

 notes, in the central region of Nepal and the neighbourhood ol' 

 Darjeeling, laying during the months of May and June. It builds 

 on the ground in tufts of grass, constructing its nest of moss 

 and moss-roots, sometimes open and cup-like and sometimes 

 globular, and lining it with sheep's wool. Mr. Hodgson figures 

 one nest suspended from a branch, and although neither the 

 English nor the vernacular notes confirm this, it is supported to 

 a certain extent by Mr Gammie's experience. At the same time, 

 though the situation and surroundings of both seem to have been 

 similar, Mr. Hodgson figures his nest, not cup-shaped, but egg- 

 shaped, and with the longer diameter horizontal. Seven nests 

 are recorded as having been taken, and all on the ground. One, 

 cup-shaped, taken on the 7th June, 1846, which is also figured, 

 in amongst grass and leaves on the ground, measured externally 

 3'5 inches in diameter, 2'5 in height, and internally 2 inches both in 

 diameter and depth. 



The full complement of eggs is said to be four. Two types of 

 eggs are figured, both rather broad ovals, measuring about 0'75 

 by 0*6. The one has a buffy-white ground and is thinly speckled 

 and streaked, except quite at the broad end, where the markings 

 are nearly confluent, with pale dingy yellowish brown ; the other 

 has a pale earthy-brown ground, and is spotted similarly to the one 

 just described, but with red and purple. This latter egg appears 

 on the same plate with the suspended nest, and is, I think, 

 doubtful. 



Several nests of this species, which I owe to Captain Masson of 

 Darjeeling, are very beautiful structures, moderately shallow and 

 rather massive cups, externally composed of moss, and lined thickly 

 with fine black moss-roots. The cavity of the nests may have 

 been about If inch in diameter by less than 1| inch in depth, but 

 the sides of the nests are from one inch to 2 inches in thickness, 

 constructed of firmly compacted moss. 



Other nests of this species that have since been sent me show 

 that the bird very commonly suspends its nest to one or two twigs, 

 not unfrequently making it a complete cylinder or egg in shape, 

 with the entrance at one side, but always using moss, in some cases 



