DISSEMTJRUS. 219 



the main stream of the Meplay river is joined by a tributary, the 

 Theedoquee. On the 4th April I was wading across the mouth of 

 the latter, when my attention was attracted by seeing a pair of the 

 above birds dart from a small tree growing at the very point of the 

 fork where the streams met, and sweep down at my dog, not 

 actually striking him, but nearly doing so. Of course, I made for 

 the tree, and sure enough there, about 15 feet from the ground, in 

 a fork, was a large mass of twigs, above which was placed a neatly 

 made cup-shaped nest, lined with tine black roots, and containing 

 three fresh eggs, densely spotted, chiefly at the larger end, with 

 yellowish brown and sepia, on a ground-colour of dull greenish 

 white. The whole time the peon I had sent up was climbing up 

 and getting the nest, the two birds kept sweeping round and 

 round with harsh cries. I secured them both for the identification 

 of the eggs." 



The eggs of this species are typically rather long ovals, gene- 

 rally a good deal pointed towards the small end. They are dull 

 eggs, and never seem to have any perceptible gloss. The ground- 

 colour varies from white to a rich warm pink. The markings are 

 of all sizes and shapes, from large blotches to the tiniest specks, 

 and they vary in every egg, being thickly set in some, thinly in 

 others, but as a rule the largest and most conspicuous markings 

 are about the large end. Again, in colour the markings vary very 

 much : they are red, purplish red, reddish brown, pale purple, and 

 inky grey ; generally the eggs exhibit both coloured markings 

 reddish and lilac, but sometimes the white-grounded eggs have 

 only these latter. Some of the pink eggs are strikingly handsome, 

 and remind one of those of some of the Bulbuls. Others are dull 

 eggs with only a few irregular grey clouds about the large end, 

 thinly interspersed with brownish-red spots, usually darker about 

 the centre, and elsewhere excessively minutely and thinly speckled 

 with spots too small to render it possible to say what colour they 

 are. 



An egg I received from Darjeeling measures !! by 0-87 ; others 

 received from Mynall from Mr. Bourdillon, and the Kakencotte 

 Forest, Mysore, from Mr. I. Macpherson, vary in length from 1*16 

 to 1-1, and in breadth from 0-84 to 0-75. Three eggs, taken in 

 Pegu by Mr. Oates, measure from 1-1 to 1-05 in length, by O83 

 to 0-81 in breadth, and are smaller than those the dimensions of 

 which he himself records above. 



