236 



did so belong. The nest was found near the great Ranjit River 

 on the 18th July, and then contained three fresh eggs. The 

 nest, which is a regular Tailor- bird's, composed entirely of the 

 finest imaginable panicle-stems of flowering grass, is a deep cup 

 placed in between two living leaves, which have been sewn together 

 at the tips and along the margins from the tip for about half their 

 length, so as to provide a perfect pocket in which the nest rests. 

 The leaves of which the pocket is composed were the terminal ones 

 of the twigs of a sapling, and only about 3 feet from the ground. 

 The leaves are large oval ones, each about 7 inches in length ; they 

 have been sewn together with wild silk carefully knotted, exactly 

 as is the practice of the common Tailor-bird. 



The eggs of this species are not separable from others of 0. suto- 

 rius, and though they may possibly average somewhat larger, I have 

 not seen enough of them to be able to make sure of this ; and as 

 regards shape, colours, and markings the description given of the 

 eggs of 0. sutorius applies equally to eggs of this species. 



380. Cisticola volitans, Swinh. The Golden-headed 

 Fantail- Warbler. 



This species was not known to Jerdon, nor was it known to 

 occur in Burma at the time that I issued my Catalogue. Mr. 

 Gates, writing of the breeding of this bird in Southern Pegu, 

 where it is common, says : " Breeding-operations commence in the 

 middle of May ; on the 28th of this month I found two nests, one 

 containing four eggs slightly incubated, and the other two, quite 

 fresh. 



"The nest is a small bag about 4 inches in height and 2 or 3 in 

 diameter, with an opening about an inch in diameter near the top. 

 The general shape of the nest is oval. It is composed entirely of 

 thewhite feathery flowers of the thatch-grass. The walls of the 

 nest are very thin but strong. The nest is placed about one foot 

 from the ground in a bunch of grass, and, in the two instances 

 where I found it, against a weed, with one or two leaves of which 

 the materials of the nest were slightly bound. 



" The eggs are very glossy pale blue, spotted all over with large 

 and small blotches of rusty brown. I have no eggs of C. cursitans 

 which match them, in that species the spots being always minute 

 and thickly scattered over the shell, whereas in 0. volitans the 

 marks are large and fewer in number. Six eggs measured in 

 length from '54 to '57, and in breadth from '42 to *43." 



381. Cisticola cursitans (Frankl.). The Rufous Fantail- 

 Warbler. 



Cisticola schcenicola, Jfy>., Jerd. 13. 2nd. ii, p. 174 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N.. $ E. no. 531). 



The Eufous Fan tail- Warbler breeds pretty well ail over India 

 and Ceylon, confining itself, as far as my experience goes, to the 



