246 SYLYIID^. 



the commonest type. Examining a large series, it appears that 

 variations from this type are more commonly of an elongated than 

 a spherical form. The eggs are of the same character as those 

 of Cisticola cursitans (p. 236), but yet differ somewhat. The 

 eggs are many of them fairly glossy, the shells very delicate 

 and fragile; the ground-colour white, usually slightly greyish, 

 but in some specimens faintly tinged with very pale green or 

 pink. Typically they are very thickly and very finely speckled all 

 over with somewhat dingy red or purplish red. In three out of 

 four eggs the markings are densest and largest towards the large 

 end ; and, to judge from the large series before me, at least one 

 in four exhibits a more or less well-defined mottled zone or cap 

 at this end, formed by the partial confluence of multitudinous 

 specks. 



In some specimens the markings are pale inky purple, and in 

 some slightly purplish brown, but these are abnormal varieties. 

 In one or two eggs fairly-sized spots and blotches are intermingled 

 with the minute specklings, but this also is rare. Of course in 

 different specimens the density of the speckling varies greatly : in 

 some eggs not a fifth of the surface is covered with the markings, 

 while in some it appears as if there were more of these than of the 

 ground-colour. 



In length the eggs vary from 0-55 to O66, and in breadth from 

 0*43 to O52 ; but the average of eighty-seven eggs is 0*62 by 

 0-48. 



385. Franklinia cinereicapilla (Hodgs.). Uodyson's Wren- 

 Warbler. 



Prinia cinereocapilla, Hodgs. , Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 172 ; Hume, Eowjh 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 537. 



Cap'ain Button says*: "In this species the structure of the 

 nest is somewhat coarser than in P. stewarti, aud it is more loosely 

 put together, but like that species it is also a true Tailor-bird. 



"In the specimen before me t\vo large leaves are stitched 

 together at the edges, and between these rests the cup-shaped nest 

 composed of grass-stalks and fine roots, as in P. stewarti, and with- 

 out any lining, while, being more completely surrounded by or 

 enfolded in the leaves, the cottony seed-down which binds to- 

 gether the fibres in the others is here dispensed with. 



" The eggs were three in number, of a pale bluish hue, irrorated 

 with specks of rufous-brown, and chiefly so at the larger end, where 

 they form an ill-defined ring. 



* I reproduce this note as it appeared in the Bough Draft,' but I have no 

 faith in the identification of this rare bird by Capt Ilutton. Mr. Hume is 

 apparently of the same opinion, as he does not quote the Dhoon as one of the 

 localities in which this species occurs (S. F. ix, p. 286). It may be well, 

 however, to point out that Mr. Brooks procured Ihis species at Dhunda, 

 in the Bhagirati valley, so that it is not unlikely to occur in the Dhoon. ED. 



