ABBOEXIS. 275 



destroyed it. I subsequently took two other nests in May, both 

 placed on the ground in holes in the side of a bank by the road- 

 side. In form the nest is a ball, with a round lateral entrance, 

 and is composed externally of dried grasses and green moss, lined 

 with bits of wool, cotton, feathers, thread, and hair. The eggs 

 are three in number." 



Two eggs of this species, sent to me by Captain Hutton, are 

 verv perfect ovals, pure white *, and rather glossy. 



they both measure O62 by 0-48. 



From Sikhiin Mr. Grarnmie writes : " The only nest I ever 

 found of this AVarbler was in a natural hole in a small tree in an 

 open part of a large forest, at 5500 feet above the sea. In a cleft, 

 five feet from ground, where a liinb had been lopped off, there was 

 a small hole, barely large enough at entrance to admit the bird, 

 but gradually widening out for the seven or eight inches of its 

 depth. In the bottom of this cavity was a loose lining of dry 

 bamboo-leaves, on which lay five eggs. They do not agree with 

 those taken by Captain Hutton, which were ' pure white,' but I 

 am absolutely certain of the authenticity of the eggs taken by me. 

 They were well-set, so five is probably the full complement. They 

 were taken on the 26th May." 



The eggs sent by Mr. Gammie, for the authenticity of which he 

 vouches, are moderately broad ovals, somewhat compressed and 

 pyriforin towards the small end. They have but little gloss, and 

 are of the same type as A. superciliaris and A. albigularis. The 

 ground is a dull pinkish white, and they are profusely mottled 

 and streaked with red, which in some eggs is brownish, in some 

 purplish. The markings are densest at the large end, where they 

 have a tendency to form an irregular zone, which in some speci- 

 mens is very conspicuous. 



These eggs vary from 0*56 to 0'57 in length, and from 0*41 to 

 0*42 in breadth. ' 



442. Abrornis albigularis, Hodgs. The White-throated Flycatcher^ 



Warbler. 

 Abrornis albigularis, Hodgs., Jerd. It. Ind. ii, p. 204. 



A nest of this species found in Native Sikhim, below Namtchu, 

 on the 28th July, is a regular Tailor-bird's nest, absolutely uudis- 

 tinguishable from the one also sent me by Mr. Mandelli as belonging 

 to Orthoiomus atru/ularis, so that for the moment I have some 

 doubts as to the authenticity of this nest. Two leaves, precisely 

 of the same species as those made use of by the Tailor-bird in 

 question, have been sewn together with the same bright yellow 

 silk, and the little deep cup-shaped nest within is composed exactly 

 of the same excessively fine grass. Another nest, also said to 



* There can be little doubt that Capt. Hutton's eggs were wrongly identi- 

 fied. -En. 



18* 



