286 



4-5 in diameter externally; internally the nest was 2-4 in diameter, 

 and the cavity had a total height of 3*9, of which 2 inches was 

 below the lower edge of the entrance. According to my ex- 

 perience four is the regular complement of eggs. I have repeatedly 

 (three times this year) shot the female off the nest, and beyond 

 question Jerdon is wrong about this bird's laying Indian-red 

 eggs/' 



According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, this species breeds in groves 

 and open forest in Sikhim and the central region of Nepal from 

 April to June, building a large globular nest in clumps of grass, of 

 dry grass, roots, and moss, lined with fine grass and moss-roots. 

 The entrance, which is circular, is at one side ; the nest is egg- 

 shaped, the longer diameter being perpendicular, and is placed at 

 a height of about 6 inches from the ground. A nest taken on the 

 30th May measured 6' 12 in height and 3*5 in diameter externally, 

 and the circular aperture, which was just above the middle, was 

 1'75 in diameter. It contained four eggs, which are represented 

 as ovals, a good deal pointed towards one end, measuring 0-69 by 

 O55. The ground-colour is a pale green, and they are speckled 

 and spotted with bright red, the markings being most numerous 

 towards the large end, where they have a tendency to form a zone 

 or cap. 



Dr. Jerdon says that " it makes its nest of fine grass and 

 withered stalks, large, very loosely put together, globular, with a 

 hole near the top, and lays three or four eggs of an entirely dull 

 Indian-red colour." This undoubtedly is a mistake ; the eggs he 

 refers to are, I think, those of Neornis flavolivaceus. He gave 

 them to me, but was not certain of the species they belonged to. 



The eggs of the present species are of much the same shape as 

 those of the preceding, and there is a certain similarity in the 

 colour of both ; but in these eggs the ground-colour instead of 

 being pink or pinky white, is a pale, delicate, sometimes greyish, 

 green. Then though there is the same kind of zone round the 

 large end, it is a purple or purplish, instead of a brick-red, and it 

 is manifestly made up of innumerable minute specks, and has not 

 the cloudy confluent character of the zone in S. crinigera. Out- 

 side the zone minute specks of the same purplish red are scattered, 

 in some pretty thickly, in others sparsely, over the whole of the 

 rest of the surface. As a body the eggs have a faint gloss, de- 

 cidedly less, however, than those of $. crinigera, but some few are 

 absolutely glossless. 



In length the eggs vary from O63 to O79, and in breadth from 

 0-46 to 0*43 ; but the average of forty-five eggs is 0-68 by 0-5. 



460. Suya khasiana, Grodw.-Aust. Austen's Hill-Warbler. 

 Suya khasiana, Godw.-Aust., Hume, Cat. no. 549 bis. 



I found this bird high up in the eastern hills of Manipur, 

 frequenting dense herbaceous undergrowth of balsams and the 



