150 CEATEROPODIDjE. 



should mention that all the eggs have a faint gloss, and that some 

 are decidedly glossy. 



They vary in length from 0-76 to 0-95, and in breadth from 0-59 

 to O66 ; but the average of thirty-four eggs is 0*85 by 0*62. 



237. Pteruthius erythropterus (Vig.). The Red-nine/ ed 

 Shrike-Tit. 



Pteruthius erythropterus ( Fa//.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 245 ; Hume, 

 Rough Draft N. $ E. no. 609. 



Writing from Murree, Colonel C. H. T. Marshall says : " There 

 is no record about the nidification of this species. Its nest is 

 exceedingly difficult to find, and it was only by long and careful ' 

 watching through field-glasses that Captain Cock discovered that 

 there was a nest at the top of a very high chestnut-tree, to and 

 from which the birds kept flying with building-materials in their 

 beaks. The nest is most skilfully concealed, being at the top of the 

 tree, with bunches of leaves both above and below. The nest, like 

 that of the Oriole, is built pendent in a fork. It is somewhat 

 roughly made of moss and hair. The eggs are pinky white, blotched 

 with red, forming in some a ring round the larger end. They 

 average -9 in length and -65 in breadth. We were fortunate enough 

 to secure two nests ; both were more than 60 feet from the ground. 

 Breeds in the end of May, at an elevation of 7000 feet." 



Captain Cock says : " I first found this bird building its nest on 

 the top of a high chestnut-tree at Murree in the month of May. 

 When the nest was ready I took my friend Captain C. H. T. 

 Marshall to be present at the taking of it, as it had never, I think, 

 been taken before. We took the nest on the 30th May. 



" It was an open flattish cup, like the nest of 0. Jcundoo in structure, 

 only shallower. It contained three eggs, pinky white, covered with 

 a shower of claret spots that at the larger end formed a cap of dark 

 claret colour. Another nest, which I took in June from the top 

 of an oak, contained two eggs." 



To Colonel Marshall and Captain Cock I am indebted for a nest 

 and egg of this species. 



The nest is a moderately deep cup, suspended between two prongs 

 of a horizontal fork. Externally it is about 4 inches in diameter 

 and about 3 inches in depth. The egg-cavity is nearly hemispherical, 

 3 inches in diameter and 1*5 in depth. It is a very loosely made 

 structure, composed internally of not very fine roots and externally 

 coated with green moss. Along the lines of suspension a good deal 

 of wool is incorporated in the structure, and it is chiefly by this 

 wool that the nest is suspended. The fork is a slender one, the 

 prongs being from 0*3 to 0-4 in diameter. 



The egg is a broad oval, a good deal pointed towards the small 

 end. The shell is very fine and compact, and has a fine gloss. 

 The ground-colour is white or pinky white, and is pretty thickly 

 speckled and finely spotted all over with brownish red and a little 



